Thailand seeks to introduce a new set of rules for retail crypto investors, specifically targeting those who want to open accounts. The Thai financial watchdog could require domestic crypto exchanges to ask traders for proof of income.

Thai SEC Could Also Ask Crypto Investors to Prove Their Knowledge of the Market

According to a Bloomberg report, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand is likely preparing the ground to require investors to show their income or assets before opening accounts.

Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, the secretary general of the country’s financial watchdog, pointed out that anyone who isn’t allowed to trade cryptocurrencies via their accounts can invest through licensed managers. She added:

It’s a big concern as most crypto investors on domestic exchanges are very young, such as students and teenagers. We realize those people love innovations and technology, but investments in these assets have enormous risk.

Moreover, the general secretary said that non-qualified crypto traders could invest via financial advisers only if they’re licensed by the SEC.

The watchdog is set to unveil its new rules on crypto trading over the week, ahead of a public hearing scheduled for March. Officials involved in the meetings are expected to evaluate recommendations from local exchanges and brokerages.

Although it’s not confirmed, the general secretary suggested that investors have to prove some knowledge of the market before being allowed to open crypto accounts for trading.

Six Licensed Crypto Exchanges Operating in Thailand so far

The rhetoric from the Thai SEC is now shifting to a cautious one towards the cryptocurrencies’ risks. However, they keep granting licenses to crypto businesses in the nation. So far, in terms of digital asset exchanges approved, there are only six operating legally in Thailand.

They are Bitkub, BX, Satang Pro, Huobi Thailand, ERX, and Zipmex. All six licensed crypto exchanges are approved for both cryptocurrencies and digital tokens, except for ERX, which is only approved for the latter.

The SEC distinguishes cryptocurrencies as “created for the purpose of being a medium of exchange for the acquisition of goods, services, or other rights.”

On the other hand, digital tokens are created “for the purpose of specifying the right of a person to participate in an investment in any project or business, or to acquire specific goods, services, or other rights under an agreement between the issuer and the holder,” said the financial watchdog.

What do you think about the words from the Thai SEC general secretary? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/new-crypto-rules-in-thailand-could-require-traders-to-show-income-before-opening-trading-accounts/

Ethereum-powered decentralized exchanges, or DEXes, continue to surge despite high transaction fees — with DEXes processing more than $120 billion in 2021 so far.

According to Ethereum market analytics platform Dune Analytics, combined DEX volumes posted a new record of $63 billion in January. February’s volume currently sits at $59 billion and is on track to hit $67 billion at the month’s end.

DEXes have already processed more volume in the first two months of 2021 than during all previous years combined.

The Ethereum-powered DEX sector is still dominated by Uniswap and Sushiswap, who account for 65% of February’s trade combined. Uniswap currently represents more than double Sushi’s volume, controlling almost 50% of DEX market share.

However, looking at the weekly number of active traders on each platform shows that Uniswap represents more than three-quarters of Ethereum DEX users. Over the last seven days, nearly 142,000 unique wallets traded on Uniswap, followed by decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch with roughly 18,450 traders, and SushiSwap with 8,911.

However, not all DEX trading activity is occurring on Etheruem, with Binance Chain’s Pancake Swap surging to report a daily trading volume behind of more than $1.1 billion.

Despite some users migrating away from Ethereum-based DEXes, confidence in the sector as a whole is at an all-time high, with the total value locked in these exchanges sitting above $40 billion for the first time during recent weeks.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/dex-volumes-have-already-surpassed-120b-in-2021

Ethereum usage is surging this year, with the value of transactions settled on the network skyrocketing during 2021.

According to research from Messari, Ethereum has settled $926 trillion worth of transactions this quarter so far — 700% more than it processed during Q1 2020. 

The network is currently on-pace to settle $1.6 trillion in transactions for the first quarter of this year. In the last 12 months, Ethereum has already settled $2.1 trillion in transactions.

If Messari’s $1.6 trillion forecast is accurate, Ethereum’s quarterly settlement value will have increased 1,280% compared to Q1 2020, and more than 5,000% compared to Q1 2019. 

Messari researcher Ryan Watkins noted the data counters the prevailing narrative that Ethereum is seeing an exodus of users amid its high gas fees, exclaiming:

“Incredible scale for a technology that critics claimed couldn’t scale.”

Ethereum’s recent surge in settlement value can be attributed to explosive growth in the DeFi and non-fungible token sector — most of which is based upon Ethereum.

The massive demand on the network has caused gas prices to surge to all-time highs. With many retail traders increasingly getting priced out of using the Ethereum mainnet for smaller transactions.

Average Ethereum transaction fees spiked to record highs of $40 on Feb. 23, with Ethereum generating $50 million worth of transaction fees in a single day.

Revenues to miners on the ethereum ecosystems are going crazy.

Everybody wants to use it.#ETHEREUM pic.twitter.com/iapXN312Xx

— odin free (@aarvantOFRE) February 24, 2021

Cryptofees.info is currently reporting an average daily fee generation of $32 million for ETH over the past seven days. Comparatively, Bitcoin has generated just $8 million daily on average over the past week.

According to Bitinfocharts.com, average transaction fees surged to a record high of almost $40 on Feb. 23. At the time of writing, Ethereum’s fees have retreated to $21 on average.

On Feb. 24, Cointelegraph reported that a fat-fingered DeFi user mistakenly paid more than 25 Ether worth $36,000 for a transaction this week.

Amid the high fees, Crypto influencers are urging an accelerated launch of ETH 2.0 to alleviate pressure on the congested proof-of-work blockchain.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-on-track-to-settle-1-6-trillion-this-quarter