March 10, 2018

Thailand Dodges Extreme Cryptocurrency Regulations

The Thai Deputy Prime Minister has mandated that the law on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings be finalized within a month. The regulators have met and agreed that there is no need to invoke the country’s controversial Section 44 law but to introduce a “special law” for them instead.

Also read: Japan’s DMM Bitcoin Exchange Opens for Business With 7 Cryptocurrencies

Special Law for Crypto

Mr. Rapee Sucharitakul, Secretary-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (TSEC), revealed on Saturday that related committees have met and decided to enact a “special law” to govern all areas of cryptocurrency, with the TSEC in charge, Thai Rath reported.

This law will also regulate initial coin offerings (ICOs) including providing rules on parties involved in token sales such as investors, middlemen, issuers, and trading platforms, the news outlet detailed, adding:

The special law will regulate the purchases and sales of cryptocurrencies and ICOs in order to avoid market manipulation, money laundering, tax evasion, as well as multi-level marketing schemes.

Mr. Somkid Jatusripitak.

The Thai Minister of Finance, Mr. Aphisak Tantiworawong, told the news outlet that the country’s Department of Revenue is considering how to tax digital currencies and is waiting for the result of the study from the four units in charge of drafting the law.

The units are the TSEC, the Ministry of Finance, the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Office, and the Bank of Thailand. They recently met and agreed that it is necessary to define and regulate cryptocurrency.

Mr. Somkid Jatusripitak, the Deputy Prime Minister, has ordered the law on cryptocurrencies and ICOs be finalized within one month.

No Need for Extreme ‘Section 44’
Mr. Wissanu Krea-ngam.

The Thai regulators have been concerned about the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency and ICO markets. There have been suggestions that “Section 44” may be necessary to immediately regulate this industry.

Section 44 of the Interim Constitution of 2014 empowers the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to issue an order to reform any fields. The NCPO is the junta that has ruled Thailand since 2014. “The deputy prime minister in charge of legal affairs has made clear that Section 44 which empowers the prime minister to have absolute power to make final decision on all problems will remain in force although the country will have the new constitution in use,” Thai PBS reported.

However, Mr. Wissanu Krea-ngam, deputy prime minister under General Prayut Chan-o-cha, told reporters on Friday that there is currently no need to use Section 44 in regards to cryptocurrencies. Instead, he said that normal regulatory procedures will be used.

What do you think of Thailand’s approach to crypto regulation? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia, and the Nation.

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The post Thailand Dodges Extreme Cryptocurrency Regulations appeared first on Bitcoin News.

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April 15, 2017

Bitwala Sees ‘Steep’ Bitcoin Adoption in Developing Countries

The latest data from bitcoin remittance app Bitwala reveals a growing trend in bitcoin adoption among citizens of developing countries.

‘Steep Adoption Rate’

Bitwala, a bitcoin-based remittance app, shared some user statistics in its blog post yesterday in which we can see that bitcoin is becoming increasingly popular in certain developing countries. The blog post reveals a “steep adoption rate” in developing countries both from Africa and Asia, the two continents with the highest number of unbanked citizens.

Bitwala reveals that, while their early adopters came from Europe and North America, the total number of sign ups from developing countries is catching up to those of Europe and the U.S, making up approximately 30% of new signups globally.

Among the developing countries, most are from North Africa, a region that makes up for 4.4% of its website’s visitors.

This growing trend among developing countries, where financial exclusion is the norm, reveals a growing need for the citizens of these countries to interact with the world economy and to access financial services, typically provided by banks. However, these regions are also the ones where banking service fees are the highest.

Bitwala explains:

At a cost of $4 billion per year, international transfers to Africa are the most expensive in the world. Furthermore, online and offline businesses also continue to pay a steep price for transferring money abroad or even domestically as the majority of banks charge between 10-19% on any transfers to, from and within African countries.

bitcoin for the Unbanked

According to Bitwala, banks are not concerned with financial inclusion and prefer instead to charge higher fees in places where financial services are harder to access, taking full advantage of their monopoly in underbanked regions.

This is one of the reasons why bitcoin is regarded as a game-changer by some. It has the ability to bypass middlemen bank, enabling direct value transfer while empowering users while giving people more control over their money.

“The strength of bitcoin and the blockchain technology that it relies on is that it allows you to send money across borders without paying the steep fees charged by traditional gatekeepers like Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria and others,” Bitwala explains.

According to 21.co, the cheapest transaction fee for a bitcoin transaction is currently at around $0.50, or 0.0003616 btc. While, admittedly, not ideal for microtransactions, it’s still cheaper than the 10-19% charged by banks on “any transfers to, from and within African countries.”

But bitcoin is not only about cheaper remittances. It also gives people access to a growing number of financial services including e-commerce, peer-to-peer loans, and money management platforms, provided they have access to an internet connection.

As more and more people in these regions become aware of bitcoin and its ability to empower them and to give them access to financial services globally and at much lower costs, bitcoin will continue to attract users.

“People often say necessity is the mother of invention but I like to say necessity is also the mother of adoption,” Lightning CEO Elizabeth Stark says in the new documentary Blockchain and Us.

If there is a real use case that people need a technology for, they start using it.

Can bitcoin help citizens in developing countries achieve financial prosperity? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

Images courtesy of Bitwala, Shutterstock

The post Bitwala Sees ‘Steep’ Bitcoin Adoption in Developing Countries appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.