regulation
Thailand SEC formalizes 5M-baht daily cap on stablecoin transfers
The Thai SEC opened a comment period ending November 26 on rules that cap daily stablecoin transfers at operators and restrict transfers to same-person wallets only.
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission opened a formal comment period on November 13 for draft rules that cap daily stablecoin transfers at licensed digital asset operators and prohibit transfers to wallets not owned by the same person. Comments are due November 26.
What the rules do
- Daily cap. 5 million baht (~$147,750) per person per operator, applied separately to inbound and outbound flows. The caps are not combined.
- Same-person rule. Stablecoins may be transferred only between accounts or wallets that belong to the same customer, as verified by the operator. Transfers to third-party wallets are prohibited through regulated venues.
- Off-platform broker/dealer threshold. A 3 million baht ($88,528) minimum applies to off-platform trades handled by brokers and dealers.
- Exemptions. Transfers between a customer's own accounts on SEC-supervised platforms, operator business transfers, market-maker activity and Bank of Thailand-approved activities.
- Scope limit. Peer-to-peer on-chain transactions outside registered platforms are not covered.
The rules do not name specific stablecoins. USDT, USDC and THBG are the most widely traded dollar- and baht-denominated stablecoins on licensed Thai venues.
Timeline and primary source
The SEC previously consulted on these principles in September; the comment window ran to September 25. Thursday's release moves from principles to drafted rules, with a short two-week comment window. The SEC release is filed as NewsNo=253/NewsYear=2026 on sec.or.th. A Travel Rule for on-chain transactions is slated for February 2027 separately.
Mechanism
The cap is per operator, not per customer in aggregate. A customer with accounts at two licensed exchanges could, in principle, move 10 million baht per direction per day. Combined with the same-person rule, the design is clearly aimed at narrowing stablecoins' use for third-party payments and remittance-adjacent flows while preserving them as a trading instrument on licensed venues.
The Bank of Thailand has been conducting parallel audits of stablecoin activity on local rails and has expressed concern about dollar-pegged stablecoins as a de facto shadow currency, particularly in cross-border contexts.
Who it hits
- Licensed Thai exchanges (Bitkub, Satang, Upbit TH, Zipmex): operational overhead to enforce the same-person rule and the daily cap at the account level, with reporting back to the SEC.
- Stablecoin issuers: Tether and Circle have no direct Thai licensing exposure here, but the rule narrows their addressable retail-flow footprint through regulated venues.
- Users: customers who treat an exchange account as a payment layer will need to route through bank transfers for third-party payments; the same-person rule is enforceable at the venue level but silent on self-custodial transfers.
What to watch
- Whether the final rules keep the 5M baht per-direction structure or collapse it into a combined daily limit after industry comment.
- Enforcement mechanics for the same-person rule on multi-user accounts and corporate accounts.
- Whether the SEC extends the comment period beyond November 26, given its brevity.
Context
Thailand joins Singapore (MAS stablecoin framework, 2023), Hong Kong (Stablecoins Ordinance, 2025) and the EU (MiCA, in force July 2026) among APAC and adjacent jurisdictions that have formalised stablecoin rules. Unlike MiCA, which focuses on issuer authorisation and reserve requirements, the Thai framework targets transfer mechanics at the venue — a pattern closer to Hong Kong's licensed-stablecoin-issuer regime than to the EU model. Nigeria's November 5 ban on algorithmic stablecoins and licensing for fiat-backed issuers reflects a similar venue-and-issuer control approach.