Crypto trading boom in September after Trump victory

Cryptocurrency trading through local digital asset platforms saw a meteoric rise in November, reaching 97 billion baht, an increase of 54.7% from the previous month. The surge was driven by a surge in investment in cryptocurrencies globally following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election earlier this month.

The average daily cryptocurrency transaction value rose to 4.6 billion baht last month, up 205% from 1.5 billion baht, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). in October.

This 97 billion baht volume includes customers who made deposits with local digital asset exchanges, but does not encompass digital assets held by the investors themselves.

The number of active accounts trading on digital asset exchanges reached 267,000, an increase of 108% from 129,000 accounts in October.

Trading activities were particularly intense, compared to daily average values ​​of 2.8 billion baht in 2022 and 1.1 billion baht in 2023, according to the regulator.

The number of SEC-licensed digital asset business operators remained stable last month, with nine digital asset exchanges, twelve broker-dealers, four dealers, two fund managers, two investment advisory firms and one depositary.

In total, 246 cryptocurrencies were offered on local digital asset platforms, including four new ones added last month.

For one-year returns, Solana delivered the best return at 342%, followed by Bitcoin and Ethereum at 156% and 82% respectively, significantly outperforming gold at 29.8% and the global stock market at 26%.

Solana is a third-generation blockchain network designed primarily to allow the platform to easily scale to support a larger number of users.

This month marks the second month in which the regulator has compiled monthly data on the digital asset market. The SEC previously tracked this data and released information weekly.

Deputy Secretary General Jomkwan Kongsakul said the SEC is moving toward digital securities trading with a focus on expanding the use of blockchain technology to ensure data security, prevent tampering and increase transparency.

This technology reduces reliance on intermediaries and ensures that data cannot be altered or deleted, helping to lower costs and improve the efficiency of cryptocurrency transactions, she added.

The SEC is also working on legislative changes to punish investment fraud, having received more than 5,000 reports of social media scams this year through December 9.

The regulator worked with social media platform operators to block 2,968 accounts suspected of fraudulent investments, reported Anek Yooyuen, deputy secretary general of the SEC.

The blocked accounts consist of 1,502 TikTok accounts, 1,318 Facebook accounts and 148 Line accounts.

“The SEC is changing laws to punish cases of investment fraud and deception next year,” he acknowledged, which is expected to improve confidence in Thailand’s capital market.

Regarding enforcement against SEC violators, criminal charges were filed in 13 cases this year, up from eight in 2023, while civil penalties were imposed in 10 cases, up from seven cases the previous year.

The regulator plans to announce its strategic plan for the period 2025-2027 on January 30. This three-year plan was developed in collaboration with the Stock Exchange of Thailand and other capital market agencies.

Mr. Anek clarified that the SEC’s strategies aim at four main objectives: strengthening confidence in the capital market, promoting digital technology, ensuring the sustainability of the capital market, and improving the financial well-being of investors.

Furthermore, the SEC has established a joint action plan to lead the capital market towards sustainability, by creating a mechanism for listed companies to communicate their environmental, social and governance plans through the disclosure of information on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The authority’s internal management focuses on using advanced technologies to support its operations, such as training its employees to become investigators in civil cases.

“The capacities of our personnel must be strengthened to speed up the prosecution process,” he said.