Thailand plans 5m baht ($148k) daily cap on stablecoin transfers

Here's the plan. Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission wants to cap how much a customer can deposit or withdraw in stablecoins, tokens pegged to a currency such as the dollar, at 5m baht a day. The limit applies in each direction, at each licensed platform. The Block put it at about $147,750.

Stablecoins could only move between accounts or wallets checked as belonging to the same person. Sending them to someone else's wallet would be banned. Platforms would also have to screen out "mule" accounts, the borrowed accounts criminals use to move money, and track watch-listed wallets.

The regulator said the amounts a customer moves must match their source of income and financial position.

There are exemptions. Moves between a customer's own accounts at two supervised platforms, platforms' own business transfers, approved businesses supervised by the Bank of Thailand, and market makers, the firms that keep trading flowing, sit outside the cap. Brokers would face a 3m baht minimum for deals done off the platform.

So what isn't covered? Direct transfers between people on a blockchain, outside registered platforms. The regulator published the draft on 12 November, and comments close on 26 November.