Thailand’s new crypto Travel Rule requires regulated digital-asset businesses to collect and exchange information about the parties to cryptocurrency transfers.
The rules will take effect on 27 February 2027. They apply to transfers of all values, although transactions exceeding THB 30,000 will require additional information and, in certain cases, verification of control over a self-hosted wallet.
The rules have been adopted
The Travel Rule is no longer a proposal or public consultation.
The requirements are contained in SEC Notification No. SorThor. 9/2569, dated 25 August 2026. The SEC formally announced the adoption of the rules on 2 September 2026.
According to the official SEC announcement, the regulations are intended to help digital-asset operators trace transactions and manage money-laundering risks. They are also designed to prevent digital-asset services from being used for technology-related crime and terrorist financing.
The SEC’s official Q&A explains that the rules take effect 180 days after publication in the Royal Gazette, giving operators time to develop the necessary information-sharing and transaction-verification systems.
Who must comply?
The legal obligations fall primarily on digital-asset businesses regulated by the Thai SEC, including operators involved in sending or receiving digital assets for customers.
Operators will have to establish policies and procedures for managing the risks associated with digital-asset transfers. They must collect and verify information concerning:
- their customers;
- their customers’ counterparties;
- the counterparty’s digital-asset service provider;
- any intermediary operator involved in the transfer; and
- self-hosted wallets involved in relevant transactions.
Customers will experience these requirements through additional questions and verification procedures when depositing or withdrawing digital assets through a regulated Thai platform.
Information will be required for every transfer
The THB 30,000 threshold does not exempt smaller transfers from the Travel Rule.
For a transfer valued at THB 30,000 or less, the customer must provide information identifying the person or entity receiving the digital assets.
For a transfer exceeding THB 30,000, the customer must also provide:
- the recipient’s province or city;
- the recipient’s country; and
- the registration number if the recipient is a legal entity.
The SEC explains that the THB 30,000 threshold corresponds to the FATF threshold of approximately USD or EUR 1,000 for collecting additional transaction information.
Transfers involving self-hosted wallets
The new rules do not prohibit self-hosted wallets.
A self-hosted wallet is a wallet managed directly by its user rather than by an exchange or another custodian. When a transaction exceeding THB 30,000 involves such a wallet, the regulated operator must verify ownership or control of the wallet.
The purpose of this check is to confirm that the person conducting the transaction genuinely controls or has access to the relevant wallet. The practical verification procedure may differ between operators.
Information must travel with the transaction
The operator sending the digital assets must transmit information about the originator and beneficiary together with the transfer instruction to the receiving operator.
This allows operators and regulators to determine where the assets came from and who received them. The principle is broadly comparable to the information accompanying transfers between banks and other financial institutions.
Operators must retain information relating to every digital-asset transfer for at least five years. The records must be stored in a form that allows the regulatory authorities to retrieve or inspect them.
What the Travel Rule does not affect
According to the SEC, the rules apply specifically to transfers of digital assets. They do not affect:
- buying or selling digital assets on an operator’s trading platform;
- transfers of Thai baht; or
- withdrawals of Thai baht.
The measure is therefore not a new tax on cryptocurrency, a ban on digital-asset transfers or a prohibition on private wallets.
Some cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals may nevertheless take longer. Additional processing may be required where a transaction has a high value, the information provided is incomplete or a self-hosted wallet requires verification.
Why Thailand is introducing the rule
The Travel Rule forms part of Thailand’s measures against money laundering and technology-related crime.
The SEC developed the requirements in coordination with Thailand’s Anti-Money Laundering Office. At the time of the SEC announcement, AMLO was also preparing relevant rules under Thailand’s anti-money-laundering legislation.
The new framework is intended to align Thailand with standards established by the Financial Action Task Force. FATF requires virtual-asset service providers to obtain, retain and securely transmit information about the originators and beneficiaries of digital-asset transfers.
More information about the international standard is available on the official FATF virtual-assets page.
What users should expect
Customers of Thai-regulated digital-asset platforms should expect changes to cryptocurrency deposit and withdrawal procedures before February 2027.
Individuals and businesses that regularly transfer digital assets between exchanges and self-hosted wallets should be prepared to:
- identify the recipient or sender;
- provide location and corporate-registration information for transfers exceeding THB 30,000; and
- demonstrate ownership or control of a self-hosted wallet when required.
The practical procedures will depend on the systems introduced by each operator, but the underlying information and record-keeping requirements will apply from 27 February 2027.
Official sources
- SEC announcement of 2 September 2026
- SEC Notification No. SorThor. 9/2569
- SEC Q&A on the Digital Asset Travel Rule
- FATF information on virtual assets
