Révisé par ThaiLawOnline, un cabinet d'avocats thaïlandais agréé exerçant en Thaïlande depuis 2006. Avocate thaïlandaise en charge du dossier : Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., licence du barreau thaïlandais 3149/2556.
Dernière mise à jour :
Évolution de la législation sur les cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande : chronologie des changements réglementaires et implications futures. Cette liste n’est pas exhaustive et ne présente qu’une partie de l’évolution dans ce domaine.
Table des matières
1. Introduction à la chronologie des lois sur les cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande
Last reviewed: 25 September 2026, adding the 2025 extraterritorial licensing amendment (section 26/1) below. This page is a timeline, and its narrative entries run to 2024. The tax position was re-checked against primary sources for this review: royal decrees Nos. 744 of B.E. 2565, 779 of B.E. 2566, and 788 and 789 of B.E. 2567, each read from its Royal Gazette PDF, and the Revenue Department royal decree register enumerated end to end to confirm that nothing later than No. 789 touches digital assets. The foreign-income paragraph was checked against Revenue Departmental Instructions Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566. Not verified in this review: SEC and Ministry of Finance notifications made after B.E. 2563, which are not held in the sources available to us, so licensing and exchange-conduct rules stated above should be confirmed with the SEC before you rely on them. Re-checked on 5 October 2026: the Revenue Department’s ministerial regulation register was searched as well as its royal decree register, and Ministerial Regulation No. 399 (B.E. 2568) was read from its Royal Gazette image (vol. 142, part 56 Kor, 5 September 2025); the tax section and the tax FAQ now carry its 2025 to 2029 exemption for individuals’ gains through Thai-licensed operators, which the earlier statement that nothing had changed after No. 789 missed. The regulator FAQ no longer names the Bank of Thailand as a regulator under the Decree.
Cryptocurrency has changed finance, bringing new ideas and growth. But governments face challenges like protecting consumers and stopping illegal money activities. Thailand, with a growing crypto market, has made many rules over time. This article looks at the history of cryptocurrency laws in Thailand, showing important events and what might happen next. Let’s look at how the cryptocurrencies in Thailand have evolved.
2. Les premières étapes : reconnaître le potentiel (2014-2017)
In these early years, Thailand recognized the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to spur economic growth. However, the absence of clear regulations created a degree of uncertainty and risk. Let’s explore Cryptocurrency Laws in Thailand per year:
2014: The Bank of Thailand issues a statement. It warns that bitcoin is not a currency and that its use carries risks. You can find an article of Coindesk about it :
2017 : Bureau régional de l'ONUDC pour l'Asie du Sud-Est et le Pacifique Une réunion se tiendra en Thaïlande en juillet. La Thaïlande souhaite renforcer ses capacités de traçage et d'enquête sur les cryptomonnaies.
https://www.unodc.org/roseap/en/2017/07/cryptocurrencies/story.html
The Thai government initiates discussions to regulate and legitimize cryptocurrency exchanges, acknowledging the need for investor protection and anti-blanchiment d'argent measures.
3. Établissement de cadres réglementaires pour les lois sur les cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande (2018)
En 2018, la Thaïlande a pris des mesures importantes pour établir un cadre réglementaire complet, clarifiant et légitimant ainsi le marché des cryptomonnaies. En mai 2018, le ministère thaïlandais des Finances a promulgué le décret d'urgence relatif aux activités liées aux actifs numériques, première législation encadrant les actifs numériques et les levées de fonds en cryptomonnaies (ICO).
Bitcoin was still seen mainly as a way for criminals to launder money. We now know that cash and conventional banking are used far more in criminal networks.
June 2018: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issues regulations for ICOs, defining required licenses and thresholds for fundraising activities. Satang was one of the first exchanges in Thailand.
https://www.sec.or.th/EN/Pages/News_Detail.aspx?SECID=8285
4. Instaurer la confiance et la sécurité (2019-2020)
Après la mise en place d'une réglementation initiale, la Thaïlande s'est concentrée sur le renforcement de la sécurité et de la fiabilité de son écosystème de cryptomonnaies. Le gouvernement a mis en œuvre des mesures visant à protéger les investisseurs et à lutter contre les activités illégales.
Mars 2019 : La SEC approuve les quatre premières plateformes d’échange de cryptomonnaies, établissant ainsi un cadre indispensable à leurs opérations. Ces plateformes sont tenues de se conformer aux réglementations en matière de lutte contre le blanchiment d’argent (LCB) et de connaissance du client (KYC). La SEC a également autorisé la négociation de certaines cryptomonnaies.
July 2019: The SEC grants an additional license to a cryptocurrency brokerage firm, demonstrating the government’s commitment to fostering a regulated crypto market.
5. Évolutions récentes et implications futures de la législation sur les cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande
La Thaïlande a continué à faire évoluer sa réglementation en matière de cryptomonnaies, en tenant compte du contexte mondial et des technologies émergentes afin de garantir que ses politiques restent efficaces et conformes aux normes internationales.
October 2020: The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission proposes new regulations requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to have a minimum capital social of ฿50 million ($1.6 million) and minimum $1 million digital asset operation fund.
January 2021: Thailand’s SEC enforces mandatory identification verification for cryptocurrency trading accounts, further strengthening AML efforts. This was really when the digital asset regulations in Thailand started.
Juin 2021 : Après l’effondrement du marché en mai 2021, la SEC de Thaïlande a interdit :
- Jeton du mème
- Jeton de fan
- Jeton non fongible (NFT)
- Jetons numériques utilisés dans une transaction blockchain et émis par des plateformes d'échange d'actifs numériques ou des personnes apparentées.
6. Foreigners can’t do KYC in Thailand parts of 2023-2024
Between July 2023 and February 2024, foreigners had trouble with crypto exchanges in Thailand refusing to let them deposit or withdraw money. We were told it was because of a new system from the anti-laundering money office.
7. Un hub crypto en 2024 ?
In February 2024 the government announced it would change the taxes on cryptocurrencies to make La Thaïlande, plaque tournante des cryptomonnaies. A separate change, and one that is often stated too broadly: Revenue Departmental Instruction Por. 161/2566 of 15 September 2023, as qualified by Por. 162/2566 of 20 November 2023, does pas tax all foreign earnings of anyone resident here. It applies to a person who is in Thailand for 180 days or more in the tax year, and it bites on foreign-source income importé en Thaïlande, in the year it is brought in rather than the year it is earned. Por. 162 then carves out income that arose before 1 January 2024 entirely. Money earned abroad and left abroad is not caught by it.
April 2025: the extraterritorial amendment and who now needs a Thai license
On 12 April 2025 the government published the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses (No. 2) B.E. 2568 in the Royal Gazette, and it took effect the next day. Several English-language summaries of this amendment call it a “Royal Decree.” The SEC’s own English translation of the instrument names it an Emergency Decree, the same type as the 2018 Decree it amends, so that is the title used on this page.
The amendment adds a third paragraph to section 26 of the Decree, which brings an operator based outside Thailand within the licensing requirement if it serves persons in Thailand, unless the service is one the SEC has exempted by notification. It also adds a new section 26/1, which deems an operator to be serving persons in Thailand if it has any ONE of the following features:
- Displays content in the Thai language
- Uses a .th domain, or a name that signals Thailand
- Accepts Thai baht, or a Thai bank or e-money account
- States that Thai law or a Thai court governs the service
- Pays for search engine placement aimed at users in Thailand
- Has an office, unit or staff, wherever located, set up to support or assist users in Thailand
- Meets any other characteristic the SEC announces
A foreign exchange with no Thai office can still be caught. An exchange that takes Thai baht deposits, shows Thai-language pages, or buys search ads that target Thailand is deemed under section 26/1 to serve persons in Thailand, and so needs a licence under section 26, the same as a Thai-based operator.
Which digital asset licence applies to you
The 2018 Decree sets out four categories of digital asset business at section 3: an exchange, un broker, un dealer, and any other business the Minister prescribes. A 2020 Ministry of Finance notification used that fourth category to add two more: a digital asset fund manager, who manages digital assets for someone else’s benefit, and a digital asset advisor, who advises on digital asset value or investment decisions outside SEC-licensed securities advice. An operator already running in these two categories in 2020 had 90 days to apply; that window closed in February 2021, so a new fund manager or advisor needs the licence before it starts, not a grace period.
Minimum paid-up capital is set by SEC Notification No. Kor Thor. 28/2567, published in the Royal Gazette (volume 141, special part 297 Ngor, pages 71 to 73) and in force since 1 November 2024. It replaced the 50 million baht figure set in 2020. An exchange that holds client assets needs 100 million baht. An exchange that does not hold client assets, a broker or dealer that does, and a custodial wallet provider need 50 million baht. A fund manager needs 25 million baht, or 10 million baht if it holds no client assets and serves institutional investors only. A broker or dealer that holds no client assets needs 10 million baht, and an advisor 1 million baht. An operator licensed in several categories needs the highest figure that applies. Operators licensed before November 2024 had to reach half of the new figure by 1 May 2025 and all of it by 1 November 2025. The 1 million US dollar operation fund in the October 2020 entry above was a proposal and is not part of this notification.
Operating without a licence: penalties and enforcement
Section 66 sets the penalty for running a digital asset business without a licence at imprisonment of 2 to 5 years and a fine of 200,000 to 500,000 baht, plus a further daily fine of up to 10,000 baht for every day the violation continues. This penalty applies equally to a domestic operator caught under section 26 and a foreign operator caught under the new section 26/1.
Some summaries describe the extraterritorial case as harsher because it cannot be settled by paying a fine. The Decree’s own settlement provision tells a simpler story: section 95 lists the specific offenses its settlement committee may compound, and section 66, unlicensed operation, has never been on that list, for a domestic operator or a foreign one. The 2025 amendment does not create a new, harsher track for foreign platforms. It extends the same licence requirement, and the same criminal exposure that has always attached to unlicensed operation, to operators outside Thailand.
The government has already used this power. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, under a companion 2025 amendment to the cybercrime law, can block access to an unlicensed platform without going to court first. It exercised that power on 28 June 2025 against five platforms: Bybit, CoinEx, 1000X, OKX and XT.COM. Separately, the SEC has filed criminal complaints naming OKX and CoinEx for unlicensed digital asset exchange operation, and in 2026 filed complaints against five individuals over unlicensed Worldcoin (WLD) trading. These are SEC filings and ministry blocking orders, not court judgments; no Thai court has yet ruled on section 26/1 in a published decision.
Crypto profits carry their own tax rules, separate from the licensing question above. See our guide to impôt sur les cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande for how gains are taxed and what the current VAT exemption covers.
The tax position, as the royal decrees actually leave it
The tax changes trailed in February 2024 were made, and they were made by royal decree under the Revenue Code. Four decrees touch digital assets, and it is worth knowing which of them is still doing any work, because the first one has expired.
- Décret n° 744 de B.E. 2565 exempted VAT on transfers of cryptocurrency or digital tokens made on a licensed digital asset exchange, but only for transfers between 1 April 2022 and 31 décembre 2023. It has expired and is of historical interest only.
- Décret n° 788 de B.E. 2567 is the one in force. It exempts VAT on transfers of cryptocurrency and utility tokens made on a digital asset exchange, through a digital asset broker, by a digital asset dealer or to a dealer, from 1 January 2024, with no end date written into it. It is both wider than the decree it replaced, which reached only transfers on an exchange, and open-ended where that one was not.
- Décret n° 789 de B.E. 2567 deals with income rather than VAT. Where a person receives a share of profit from holding an investment token, and 15 per cent has already been withheld at source under section 50(2) of the Revenue Code, that profit share need not be brought into the annual income tax computation at all, for amounts received from 1 January 2024. The condition is strict: it applies only if the recipient does not reclaim or credit any part of the tax withheld. In substance the 15 per cent becomes a final tax, at the recipient’s election.
- Decree No. 779 of B.E. 2566 is aimed at issuers rather than investors. It relieves a company or juristic partnership of corporate income tax and VAT on the transfer of investment tokens offered to the public, retroactively to 14 May 2018, which is the day the Emergency Decree itself came into force.
No later royal decree has changed any of this. The Revenue Department’s own royal decree register runs to No. 807 of B.E. 2569, and reading it end to end, 678 decrees from No. 9 to No. 807, the last one whose subject touches digital assets is No. 789.
But the income tax on gains has changed, by ministerial regulation, which is a separate register. Ministerial Regulation No. 399 (B.E. 2568), signed on 27 August 2025 and published in the Royal Gazette on 5 September 2025 (volume 142, part 56 Kor), adds item (109) to clause 2 of Ministerial Regulation No. 126: the gain an individual makes on transferring cryptocurrency or a digital token is exempt from personal income tax where the transfer is made on a digital asset exchange, through a digital asset broker, or to a digital asset dealer licensed under the Thai digital asset law, for income received from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029. The exemption is limited in three ways: it is a personal income tax exemption, so it does not help a company; it covers only transfers through a Thai-licensed operator, so a gain made on a foreign platform remains assessable income; and it ends with 2029 unless extended.
Implications futures et conclusion
La Thaïlande travaille à l'élaboration d'une législation sur les cryptomonnaies afin de sécuriser les transactions. Le pays souhaite protéger les investisseurs et encourager la croissance et l'innovation. En se conformant aux normes internationales, la Thaïlande devient un lieu privilégié pour les entreprises et les investissements dans les cryptomonnaies. Des accords importants ont récemment été conclus, qui pourraient faire de la Thaïlande un pôle technologique d'avenir. Les cryptomonnaies y ont toute leur place. Microsoft a annoncé en mai 2024 l'implantation d'un nouveau centre de données en Thaïlande, dédié notamment à l'intelligence artificielle.
Il est clair que la Thaïlande souhaite tirer profit du potentiel des cryptomonnaies et de la technologie blockchain tout en veillant au respect des exigences réglementaires. Les implications futures précises restent à déterminer, mais grâce à une vision novatrice et à une adaptation constante, la Thaïlande pourrait bien s'imposer comme une juridiction de premier plan dans le secteur des cryptomonnaies.
Foire aux questions
Les cryptomonnaies sont-elles légales en Thaïlande ?
Oui. Il est légal de détenir et d'échanger des cryptomonnaies via des plateformes d'échange thaïlandaises agréées par la SEC, mais elles n'ont pas cours légal et leur utilisation pour payer des biens et des services est restreinte.
Qui réglemente les cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande ?
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) licenses and supervises digital asset businesses under the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018), which the Minister of Finance administers. The Bank of Thailand’s role is separate and concerns payments, including the restrictions on using digital assets to pay for goods and services.
Dois-je payer des impôts sur les bénéfices tirés des cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande ?
It depends on where you trade. Gains are assessable income in principle, but Ministerial Regulation No. 399 (B.E. 2568) exempts an individual from personal income tax on gains from transferring cryptocurrency or digital tokens on a Thai-licensed exchange, or through a licensed broker or to a licensed dealer, for income received from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029. Gains made on a foreign platform, and gains made by a company, are not covered.
Puis-je payer des biens avec des cryptomonnaies en Thaïlande ?
L'utilisation des cryptomonnaies comme moyen de paiement est restreinte et découragée par les autorités de réglementation ; elles sont donc principalement considérées comme un actif d'investissement plutôt que comme de la monnaie.
Les plateformes d'échange de cryptomonnaies étrangères peuvent-elles servir des clients en Thaïlande ?
Only if it holds a Thai SEC licence. Since April 2025, a foreign exchange counts as serving Thai customers under section 26/1 if it uses Thai language, accepts Thai baht, or meets any of the other listed triggers, and the government has already blocked several platforms that operated without one.
Do I need a licence to trade crypto for myself?
No. Sections 26 and 26/1 regulate the businesses that run an exchange, brokerage, dealing, fund management or advisory service, not an individual who buys and holds digital assets through a licensed exchange.
What is the penalty for running an unlicensed crypto exchange in Thailand?
Section 66 sets imprisonment of 2 to 5 years and a fine of 200,000 to 500,000 baht, plus a daily fine while the violation continues. This offense cannot be settled by paying a fine through the Digital Asset Business settlement committee.
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