Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a public comment period on its proposed crypto ETF framework, with submissions accepted through September 20. The consultation draft remains at least two steps from becoming a formal rulebook: the regulator must first collect feedback, revise its recommendations, and only then decide whether to authorize the products.

The August draft builds on an earlier April consultation, in which most comments backed the regulator's approach to custody arrangements and helped officials refine parts of the original design. No final approval has been granted, and no launch date commitments have been confirmed.

Only Bitcoin and Ethereum clear the bar in the first phase

The first phase of Thailand's crypto ETF plan covers only the two largest digital assets, Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the funds will trade exclusively on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Under the draft, licensed asset managers must run each fund as a passive vehicle that tracks the price of a single crypto asset, maintaining an average net exposure of at least 80% of net asset value to its underlying coin in each accounting year.

The draft also imposes investor protection requirements, with disclosures on fund structure, risks, and service providers all named as mandatory.

Thai mutual funds and private funds would also be able to buy locally domiciled crypto ETFs, alongside the foreign-issued ETFs they can already hold, though current investment limits will still apply. Alternative instruments tied to overseas crypto ETFs, such as depositary receipts, will not receive the green light during the initial phase.

What is different about the new consultation

The most notable change in the August draft concerns custody since the issue was last addressed in April. Custody has become a focal point for crypto fund regulation worldwide since the 2022 collapse of the FTX exchange left customer assets stranded in bankruptcy.

The SEC's revised design keeps domestic digital asset custodians as the primary location for crypto ETF assets, while the regulator reserves the discretion to admit qualified foreign custodians "when necessary and appropriate in light of prevailing circumstances." Qualified foreign custodians may also register as mutual fund supervisors for crypto ETFs.

Any foreign custodian that would offer digital assets in Thailand must first have cleared the bar in its home jurisdiction and operate under a regulator with real legal authority. Thai SEC judges must also agree that the custodian meets the SEC's own asset protection standards.

Where this fits Thailand's crypto push

The consultation extends a run of SEC work on digital assets through 2026. In January, deputy secretary-general Jomkwan Kongsakul said crypto ETFs had already won approval in principle and that the products would cut the hacking and wallet-security worries that keep some investors out, as Cryptopolitan reported at the time.

Thailand cleared its first spot Bitcoin ETF back in June 2024, initially for institutions only. That debut tracked a broader global shift: US regulators approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, Hong Kong listed its first spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs that April, and spot Ether funds began trading in the US in mid-2024 — the kind of foreign-issued products Thai funds can already hold under current limits.

Tax policy sits underneath the effort as well. Thailand has run a 0% capital gains rate on crypto for years, a break that runs from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2029. The SEC frames the ETF framework as one more channel for pulling investor demand into regulated products.