Thai SEC opens Travel Rule consultation for digital asset transfers
Under the draft rules, operators would collect customer and counterparty data for every transfer, with comments open until Friday (July 10, 2026).
- Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking public comment on a proposed "Travel Rule" for digital asset transfers to manage financial risks.
- The rule aims to combat money laundering and technology-related crime by requiring digital asset operators to collect and share information about the sender and receiver in a transaction.
- Key proposed duties for operators include verifying customer and counterparty data, checking self-hosted wallets, and retaining transaction records for at least five years.
- The initiative is a collaboration with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) to align with international standards and increase confidence in Thailand's digital asset market.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking public comment on a draft notification that requires risk management for digital asset transfers and receipts, known as the “Travel Rule for Digital Assets”.
The aim is to ensure that digital asset business operators have sufficient information to examine and manage money-laundering risks, in line with international standards, and to support effective prevention of digital asset business services being used as channels for money laundering and technology-related offences.
The SEC has continued to integrate cooperation with public- and private-sector partner agencies to prevent and suppress technology-related crime.
The Subcommittee on Financial Data Connectivity to Enhance Monitoring of Suspicious Financial Transactions resolved that the SEC, together with the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), should issue guidance for digital asset business operators, while AMLO prepares to issue rules under the anti-money laundering law.
The SEC has therefore coordinated with AMLO to set requirements for the risk management systems of digital asset business operators, so that information accompanies every digital asset transfer transaction to support monitoring and prevent digital assets from being used in technology-related crime.
Draft duties for digital asset business operators
The SEC previously consulted on the principles in March–April 2026. Most relevant parties agreed with the proposed principles and provided useful comments.
The SEC has considered those comments in refining the principles to make them clearer and more appropriate, and has prepared a draft notification setting out the duties of digital asset business operators.
The main points are as follows:
- Operators must establish policies and operating procedures for managing risks related to digital asset transfers and receipts. Their duties include collecting customer and customers’ counterparty information to accompany digital asset transfers, checking counterparties, and checking the qualifications of digital asset business operators or digital asset service providers used by counterparties.
They must also verify ownership of, or authority to control, a self-hosted wallet in cases where digital assets are transferred to or received from a self-hosted wallet, and retain information supporting every digital asset transfer transaction for at least 5 years.
For the first 2 years, the information must be stored in a form that allows the supervisory authority to retrieve or inspect it immediately.
- Where an operator is an Ordering Digital Asset Operator, it must send information on the transferor and transferee along with the digital asset transfer order to the Beneficiary Digital Asset Operator.
Where an Intermediary Digital Asset Operator is in the route of a digital asset transfer, the intermediary’s qualifications must be checked and any further prescribed action taken, so that the transaction route can be tracked continuously and completely as intended.
- Operators must have prescribed risk management measures relating to the transfer or receipt of digital assets. These include collecting transferor and transferee information to accompany digital asset transfers received from an Ordering Digital Asset Operator or from a customer.
Upgrading digital asset transactions
The introduction of the Travel Rule for Digital Assets is intended to enhance the ability to trace the financial routes of digital asset transactions, and to examine, prevent and intercept technology-related crime effectively.
It is also intended to prevent the risk of digital asset business operators being used as channels for money laundering and terrorist financing, without placing an undue burden on operators.
It also raises anti-money laundering measures in line with international standards, strengthening confidence in Thailand’s digital asset market and increasing the competitiveness of Thailand’s digital asset ecosystem overall.
The SEC is therefore seeking public comments on the draft notification.
It has published the consultation paper on the SEC website and the Law Portal.
Relevant parties and interested members of the public may submit comments via the websites or by e-mail to [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] until Friday (July 10, 2026).
