Thailand SEC Issues Digital Asset Travel Rule, Effective February 2027

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a new Travel Rule for digital assets, establishing transaction-information, counterparty-checking and recordkeeping requirements for digital asset business operators. The rule will take effect on 27 February 2027, giving firms time to adapt their systems and operating procedures.

The SEC announced the final framework on 2 September 2026 after consultations on the principles in March–April and on the draft notification in June–July. The regulator said most respondents supported the proposed approach. The underlying notification, No. SorThor. 9/2569, was dated 25 August 2026.

Information and counterparty checks required for transfers

Under the new requirements, digital asset operators must maintain policies and procedures for managing risks associated with sending and receiving digital assets. They must collect information about customers and customers’ counterparties for transfers and assess the relevant counterparties involved in the transaction chain.

The framework specifically requires operators to check the status and characteristics of a counterparty virtual asset service provider, as well as any intermediary digital asset operator used in the transfer route. For transfers to or from a self-hosted wallet, the operator must also verify ownership of, or control over, that wallet.

An Ordering Digital Asset Operator must transmit information about both the originator and beneficiary together with the transfer instruction to the counterparty VASP receiving the instruction, described by the SEC as the Beneficiary Digital Asset Operator.

Five-year record retention

Operators must retain information accompanying every digital asset transfer for at least five years. Records must be stored in a form that allows regulators to retrieve or inspect them promptly.

The SEC said the framework was developed in coordination with Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO). A subcommittee focused on linking financial information for enhanced monitoring of suspicious transactions had asked the SEC and AMLO to develop guidance for digital asset operators while AMLO prepares rules under Thailand’s anti-money laundering legislation.

The SEC said the measure is intended to improve operators’ ability to identify and manage money-laundering risks, reduce the use of digital asset services for technology-related crime and terrorist financing, and align Thailand’s controls more closely with FATF standards.

For digital asset businesses, the practical impact is substantial: the final rule moves Travel Rule compliance from consultation into an implementation phase covering data capture, counterparty-VASP due diligence, self-hosted-wallet controls, information transmission and long-term transaction records.