The approval of the first initial coin offering (ICO) portal in Thailand may be delayed until the beginning of next year because the technological system is not ready yet, says the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
"The SEC is checking the readiness of the company's IT operating system, which must meet our requirements," said secretary-general Rapee Sucharitakul.
The company vying to be the first ICO portal has already submitted all requested documents and the remaining process will be activated after completion of checking the operating system, Mr Rapee said.
He declined to disclose the name of the first applicant seeking to operate as a licensed ICO portal, saying only that four or five companies have expressed interest in becoming licensed ICO portals, with plenty of ICO projects in the pipeline.
Earlier, Mr Rapee said an ICO portal was likely to be certified in November, with the first authorised ICO offering possibly materialising this month.
The SEC has already forwarded a list of five digital asset business operators to the Finance Ministry for final approval.
The royal decree on digital assets has been effective since May 14. The SEC is tasked with regulating ICOs and other digital asset businesses, including digital exchanges as well as brokers and dealers involved with digital asset transactions.
ICO issuers will not directly contact the SEC, but instead deal with ICO portals for digital token offerings, Mr Rapee said. ICO portals will help the market regulator screen, conduct the Know Your Customer process and verify if the source code of a smart contract fits the white paper.
Since there has been no certified ICO portal at present, investors should take caution when being encouraged to invest in ICO projects, Mr Rapee said.
Separately, the SEC has initiated the Borisat Kasien Sook (Happy Retirement Company) project as part of its mandate to promote financial literacy and retirement savings.
Under the project, the SEC will provide an investment education "toolbox" that companies can use to communicate with employees for better selection of a retirement plan.
The SEC will also encourage employees to increase the percentage of provident fund savings to 15% of their monthly salary and urge employers to increase employees' allowance.
At present there are 170 companies involved in the project, with about 300,000 employees. The SEC aims to increase the number of corporate participants to 250 next year.
"There are around 3 million provident fund members, but more than 60% of them are expected to receive their retirement funds at an amount less than 1 million baht," Mr Rapee said. "This is lower than the minimum amount of 3 million baht that retirees should have in order to have enough money for their retirement."
The primary reasons for inadequate retirement savings are missed investment opportunities and low investment returns earned from fixed-income securities or bank deposits.
At present, only 19% of provident fund members are in equity investment, according to the SEC.