Thai schoolchildren suffering huge losses trading in crypto: TDRI
Urgent government measures are required to protect Thai teenagers from digital assets as many have suffered big losses trading in cryptocurrency, a senior researcher said on Friday.
Somchai Jitsuchon, research director for inclusive development at Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), said he had learned that many secondary school students in the Northeast have made losses ranging from tens of thousands to over 100,000 baht from investing in crypto.
“Money used to fund their investments came from their families. In some cases, the money used was their grandparents’ savings for their education,” Somchai wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.
“This is very worrying. The government should impose urgent and strong measures to protect these newcomers. They began investing in the belief they could make big profits,” he said.
Crypto-trading platforms must be required to educate customers and also have mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) checks to screen out minors, he added.
Last month, the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), a government think tank, warned that young crypto investors risk big losses due to a get-rich-quick attitude coupled with a lack of knowledge.
The NESDC reported that one in four young Thai crypto investors base their investment decisions on instinct rather than analysis. Meanwhile 45 per cent of Thai crypto investors have no knowledge or understanding of the market, said the NESDC report on Thailand’s outlook in the second quarter. This lack of knowledge, particularly among young investors, makes them more prone to making wrong decisions, it warned.
