New service to ‘harness creativity’ by broadening investment and fundraising opportunities
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is about to launch a fully integrated Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-based service for investment in digital assets, ranging from links with Initial Coin Offering (ICO) portals and digital-asset exchanges to digital wallets.
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The digital-assets initiative, which is designed to comply with the policies of the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission, is a collaborative development with KASIKORNBANK (KBank)’s technology arm, Kasikorn Business-Technology Group (KBTG). It is expected to go live next year.
The service will broaden fundraising and investment opportunities that arise from the harnessing of creativity, unleashing unlimited growth under related laws and regulatory frameworks.
The SET is also poised to join with other partners to create “a complete digital-asset ecosystem to enhance its capabilities at an international level”.
SET President Pakorn Peetathawatchai said the SET had established a new company – the Thai Digital Assets Exchange Co. Ltd – to continuously drive the development of the end-to-end digital-assets platform. It will cover (1) ICO portal connectivity for participants with products that match the demands of both investors and issuers; (2) a digital-assets exchange as a secondary market; and (3) a digital wallet to securely store digital tokens.
The innovative service will not only provide new channels for fundraisers, but also create investment opportunities in alternative assets, following on the enactment of a Royal Decree on Digital Asset Businesses under the regulation and supervision of the SEC, which became effective in 2018.
“The SET and KBTG have collaborated to design a prototype of an open digital-asset platform, enabling all participants from the capital market, financial markets and real and social sectors to use it in a transparent and fair manner, under generally accepted rules with which all parties will comply,” Pakorn said.
“With this partnership, KBTG will be the first ICO-portal service provider to link up to the SET-initiated platform. At this stage, both parties are assessing the feasibility and analyzing benefits for all involved parties and preparing to apply for relevant digital-asset operating licenses from the SEC.
“The SET is aiming for the first token fundraising on the impending platform to commence in 2021. The platform is one of the SET’s strategic projects, initiated in line with the government’s policy towards developing the country’s digital economy, as well as catering to the future needs of fundraisers and investors. Moreover, this platform will eventually connect to the Digital Infrastructure for Capital Market, aligned with the SEC’s vision and policy,” he said.
KBTG Chairman Ruangroj Poonpol said the partnership with the SET to develop the end-to-end digital-assets platform originated with a mutual vision to expand investment channels and broaden fundraising opportunities. As well as current financial products, it will also offer alternative products with various returns and risks. The development is in line with KBank’s strategy of focusing on providing democratized savings and investment services for its customers.
“KBTG has expertise as one of the pioneers in infrastructure development for the electronic Letter of Guarantee on Blockchain technology, by jointly working with BCI (Thailand) to make the company one of the country’s first movers in putting the technology into practice.
“Our collaboration with the SET aims to develop an open platform that creates new opportunities for Thai businesses, by allowing them to tap into new sources of funding to foster their growth potential. The new platform is expected to be more flexible than existing solutions in the market, by designing offered tokens that incorporate traits of equity, bond, and mutual fund units that not only deliver monetary returns, but also utility rights. This gives asset-backed tokens issued by ICO Portal an interesting aspect. We believe that this collaboration will be a turning point in the country’s fundraising and investment landscape in the next few years,” Ruangroj said.
Participants interested in mobilizing funds through the digital-assets platform should contact either the SET’s Capital Market Utility Department by e-mail at [email protected], or KBTG at [email protected].
