Thailand’s SEC Seeks Public Comment on Draft Stablecoin Trading Rules: Daily Deposits and Withdrawals Capped at 5 Million Baht per Customer at Each Regulated Firm, Transfers Allowed Only To and From the Customer’s Own Wallets. (Previously: Thailand’s central bank cracks down on crypto money laundering in the “gray economy,” targets unusually large USDT transactions and refers cases to the SEC for expanded investigations into money laundering.) (Background: Malaysia and Thailand join Singapore’s BLOOM! Central banks of three countries define cross-border stablecoin standards.) On November 12, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) issued Announcement No. 253/2026, opening a public consultation on draft rules governing stablecoin trading. The consultation closes on November 26. The draft’s core is to make three things hard rules: one customer, one transaction ceiling, and one traceable chain of funds. Under the draft, each customer may deposit and withdraw stablecoins at each digital asset business regulated by the SEC up to a daily limit of 5 million baht per direction, equivalent to about US$148,000. Inbound and outbound transfers are calculated separately: a customer may transfer in up to 5 million baht and transfer out up to 5 million baht on the same day, with neither amount offset against the other. More importantly, the rules require transfers to be between the same person’s accounts. The wallet from which stablecoins are transferred into a customer’s account, and the destination wallet to which they are transferred out, must both be verified as belonging to that same customer. Transfers to another person’s wallet, as well as deposits from another person’s wallet, are prohibited. The SEC’s announcement explicitly states that these transfers must comply with the Travel Rule and related requirements. These include customer profiling and data screening (the wallets must not be nominee accounts or belong to people or wallets at high risk of involvement in illegal transactions). Businesses must also use blockchain analytics tools to track asset flows and identify links to high-risk or blacklisted wallets. The SEC also incorporates the principle of income proportionality into the rules: the value of stablecoins flowing into and out of a customer’s account must be commensurate with the customer’s sources of income and financial circumstances. In other words, if a retail investor earning tens of thousands of baht a month has millions of baht in stablecoins flowing through their account within a short period, this will be an anomalous pattern that the business must flag. Which scenarios are exempt from the 5 million baht cap? The draft does not impose a blanket limit. Four types of activity are exempt from the 5 million baht cap: • Transfers between a customer’s own accounts at SEC-regulated businesses, provided that both businesses comply with the Travel Rule. • Stablecoin transfers made by a business for business purposes using accounts held in its own name. • Transfers made through regulated businesses by market makers in stablecoin–baht trading pairs to fulfill their liquidity-provision roles. • Subscriptions and refunds for digital tokens approved for issuance by the SEC. This includes payments between ICO platforms, issuers, and investors, as well as the return of investment principal and earnings. Businesses approved by the Bank of Thailand (BOT) to operate using stablecoins under specified arrangements are also exempt. Market makers and liquidity providers face tighter rules The second layer of the draft brings wholesale activity out of the shadows. Digital asset exchanges must publish on their websites lists of market makers and the tokens for which they provide liquidity. They must also screen, monitor, and review market makers to verify the sources of the assets they handle and the purposes of their transactions. Brokers, meanwhile, are prohibited from using liquidity providers (LPs) for stablecoin–baht trading pairs. LPs must not be based in countries or territories that fail to implement the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, must have anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures in place, must be supervised by a competent authority, and must not pose concerns about the safe custody of assets. Brokers must also disclose to customers their list of LPs and any conflicts of interest between themselves and those LPs. For over-the-counter trading, the draft sets a minimum threshold of 3 million baht, or about US$89,000. Businesses must disclose transaction prices on their websites or platforms, and brokers may not arrange OTC trades between customers. Why now? The gray economy and cross-border workarounds In September, the Thai SEC held a public hearing on regulatory principles for stablecoin transactions through licensed businesses. It discussed five areas—market makers, liquidity providers, source exchanges, OTC trading, and data disclosure—and then consolidated the feedback into the current draft rules. Before that, in July, the Bank of Thailand and the SEC had already begun using data analytics tools to scan specifically for unusually large USDT transactions, referring suspicious cases to the SEC for expanded investigations. The draft’s preamble also states its purpose plainly: to prevent digital assets from being used for money laundering, cybercrime, or as a channel to circumvent international remittance rules. Practical impact on the Thai market For ordinary retail investors, the most immediate effect of the new rules is that “funds can move only under your own name.” On regulated platforms, it will no longer be possible to transfer USDT to friends or family, or to use collection-and-payment services to transfer funds on someone else’s behalf. The daily limit of 5 million baht may not affect most retail investors. But for OTC businesses that primarily handle baht deposits and withdrawals, cross-border payment services, and underground currency exchanges, the impact will be structural: their entire business model relies on “Wallet A transferring to Wallet B,” precisely the action expressly prohibited by the draft. Meanwhile, the exemptions effectively place legitimate wholesale flows on a whitelist. Market makers, BOT-approved corporate use cases, and ICO subscriptions and refunds all remain outside the 5 million baht cap. This suggests that Thai regulators are targeting breaks in the retail fund-transfer chain, rather than institutional liquidity. By comparison, the first phase of Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission Travel Rule took effect in October. Domestic exchanges must transmit sender and recipient information for transfers between them regardless of the amount; for individual transfers exceeding NT$30,000, date of birth and address must also be provided. Both jurisdictions focus on same-name wallets and the transmission of data, but Thailand writes a transaction ceiling directly into its rules, while Taiwan progressively adds more reporting fields. Related reports Thailand’s Supreme Court rules Bitcoin is “property”! 2.48 BTC to be returned in Koh Samui robbery case Singapore’s MAS lays down strict stablecoin rules: 100% reserves, no interest—just like the US and Europe Thailand approves USDT as a domestic medium of exchange, ushering in a potential boom for stablecoin payments This article, “Thailand SEC Draft Rules: Stablecoin Transfers Capped at 5 Million Baht per Day, Transfers to Other People’s Wallets Prohibited,” was first published by BlockTempo (動區動趨, the most influential blockchain news media).