Cryptocurrency trading via local digital asset exchanges skyrocketed in November to 97 billion baht, rising 54.7% from the previous month, benefiting from increased crypto investments globally after Donald Trump won the US presidential election earlier in the month.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the average daily trading value of crypto was 4.6 billion baht last month, up 205% from 1.5 billion baht in October.
The trading value of 97 billion baht includes customers who deposited with local digital asset exchanges, but not digital assets held by investors themselves.
There are 267,000 active accounts trading with digital asset exchanges, up 108% from 129,000 accounts in October.
Trading was very active compared with the average daily trading value in 2022 and 2023 of 2.8 and 1.1 billion baht, respectively, said the regulator.
The number of digital asset business operators licensed by the SEC last month was unchanged at nine for digital asset exchanges, 12 brokers, four dealers, two fund managers, two investment advisories and one custodian.
There were 246 coins offered through local digital asset exchanges, including four new coins added last month.
For one-year returns, Solana provided the highest return of 342%, followed by Bitcoin and Ethereum at 156% and 82%, respectively, significantly surpassing gold at 29.8% and 26% for the global stock market.
Solana is a third-generation blockchain network that was created with the main purpose of being able to easily scale the network to support more users.
This is the second month the regulator has compiled monthly data about the digital asset market. The SEC previously tracked the data and released such information weekly.
Deputy secretary-general Jomkwan Kongsakul said the SEC is advancing digital securities trading by focusing on developing the use of blockchain technology, aiming to protect secure encryption, prevent data forgery and increase transparency.
The technology reduces reliance on intermediaries and ensures data cannot be altered or deleted, helping to lower costs, enabling real-time trading and improving the efficiency of crypto trading, she said.
The SEC is accelerating work on legal amendments to punish investment fraud after its investment fraud hotline received more than 5,000 reports of fraudulent investments via social media this year as of Dec 9.
The regulator coordinated with social media platform operators to block 2,968 accounts that are suspected of fraudulent investments, said Anek Yooyuen, deputy secretary-general of the SEC.
The blocked accounts comprise 1,502 TikTok accounts, 1,318 Facebook accounts and 148 Line accounts.
"The SEC is amending laws to punish investment fraud and deception cases next year," he said, which should improve confidence in the Thai capital market.
In terms of law enforcement against offenders of the SEC Act, criminal charges were filed against offenders in 13 cases this year, up from eight cases in 2023, while civil penalties were imposed in 10 cases, rising from seven cases last year.
The regulator is preparing to announce its strategic plan for 2025-27 on Jan 30. The three-year plan was developed in collaboration with the Stock Exchange of Thailand and other capital market agencies.
Mr Anek said the SEC's strategies are meant to achieve four main goals: increasing trust and confidence in the capital market, promoting digital technology, building a sustainable capital market, and improving investors' financial well-being.
In addition, the SEC has a joint action plan to drive the capital market towards sustainability by creating a mechanism for listed companies to communicate environmental, social and governance plans through the disclosure of information on greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Internal management at the regulator plans to focus on utilising advanced technology to support operations, such as training its employees to be investigators in civil cases.
"The capabilities of our staff must be strengthened to speed up the prosecution process," he said.