# Thailand

> Thailand (SEC Thailand · Bank of Thailand · AMLO · PDPC): Closed by whitelist, not by prohibition. Region: Asia-Pacific. Restricts anonymity: Anonymity-enhancing assets or unattributed transfers are barred outright, or barred for regulated firms.

Part of the Soda Labs Privacy Hub regulation map, which reads the instruments
themselves rather than summarising the summaries: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation

## Key facts

- Entry type: Jurisdiction
- Region: Asia-Pacific
- Subject: Closed by whitelist, not by prohibition
- Authority: SEC Thailand · Bank of Thailand · AMLO · PDPC
- Stance on on-chain confidentiality: Restricts anonymity. Anonymity-enhancing assets or unattributed transfers are barred outright, or barred for regulated firms.
- Tags: whitelist regime, no named coin ban, commonly misreported, payments ban
- Canonical page: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-thailand

## What it actually says

Thailand is the jurisdiction most often cited as having banned privacy coins, and the claim does not survive reading the instrument. Notification No. Kor Thor. 18/2564 prohibits four categories (meme tokens, fan tokens, NFTs and exchange-issued tokens) and stops there. Anonymity is never mentioned. The exclusion is real but it works through market architecture instead: exchanges may list only what the SEC has approved, the approved list is short, and anonymity-enhancing assets simply never reach it. Combined with the ban on using digital assets for payment since April 2022 and the 2025 extension of the perimeter to offshore operators targeting Thai users, the practical result is closed access rather than illegal holding. The distinction matters, and almost every secondary source erases it.

## The instruments that matter

- **Notification No. Kor Thor. 18/2564, effective 11 June 2021**: bars exchanges from listing meme tokens, fan tokens, NFTs and exchange-issued tokens; those four categories are the complete scope, and privacy coins are not among them
- **Positive listing approval**: exchanges may list only assets the SEC accepts, which has been a short list
- **Digital assets barred as a means of payment from 1 April 2022**
- **Emergency Decree amendments, 13 April 2025**: extended obligations to offshore operators targeting Thai users, with criminal penalties and platform blocking

## Sources

- [Primary text of Notification 18/2564](https://www.tilleke.com/insights/thailand-announces-prohibited-digital-tokens-and-cryptocurrencies/)
- [Thailand chapter, Global Legal Insights](https://www.globallegalinsights.com/practice-areas/blockchain-cryptocurrency-laws-and-regulations/thailand/)

## Related entries

- [Taiwan](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-taiwan): The travel rule that has never come into force
- [Georgia](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-georgia): The one place where privacy oversight went backwards
- [India](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-india): No crypto statute, regulated through AML and tax
- [Japan](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-japan): Untraceability barred by self-regulation, now moving into ordinance
- [South Korea](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-south-korea): Identity-maximalist, and exporting the model
- [Australia](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-australia): Travel rule without a threshold, no coin ban