One story from each region, picked by what mattered most there, not by what America read. 7 regions this week, plus 26 more stories inside them. Pick a region to see everything from it.
Draft for review: stories outside Asia are checked but not yet approved.
The US Justice Department says it has court approval to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion stolen in the Binance hack, which it attributes to North Korea
What happened. The US Justice Department said on 12 November it has court approval to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion of the crypto stolen from Binance, The Block reported. It attributes the theft to North Korean military hackers, The Block reported.
Why it matters. The hackers are still moving funds through bridges, mixers and exchanges, the department said, The Block reported. North Korea has denied involvement, Decrypt reported.
The $1.2 billion is part of more than $2.7 billion frozen so far by US authorities and private companies, the department said, according to The Block.
ChainCatcher reported that the $2.7 billion was frozen by Tether and Circle right after the hack; the department credits US authorities and private companies, The Block reported.
On 12 November Binance said it had completed coverage of the affected assets, The Block reported.
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What happened. The US Justice Department said on Thursday 12 November that it has court approval to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion of the crypto stolen from Binance, The Block, Decrypt and Unchained reported. The department attributes the theft of more than $6 billion, on or about 29 October, to North Korean military hackers the FBI calls TraderTraitor, The Block and Unchained reported. The $1.2 billion is part of more than $2.7 billion frozen so far by US authorities and private companies, the department said, according to The Block.
Why it matters. The order covers part of the frozen money while the rest is still being traced: the hackers are still moving funds through bridges, mixers and exchanges, the department said, The Block reported. North Korea has denied involvement, calling the FBI's finding a political provocation, Decrypt reported.
In the same announcement the department said it seized cloud infrastructure behind a North Korean scheme the FBI calls FaceStealer, which it links to more than $400 million in crypto theft over the past 18 months, The Block and Decrypt reported.
FaceStealer invites victims to video calls from hijacked accounts, plays recordings or deepfakes of people they know, then fakes a technical problem to get them to install malware, the department said, The Block reported; the FBI seized more than 900 webcam videos of victims.
Binance had put its losses at about $6.3 billion and set aside $6.34 billion of company funds to cover them; on 12 November it said it had completed coverage of the affected assets, The Block reported.
ChainCatcher reported that the $2.7 billion was frozen by Tether and Circle right after the hack; the department credits US authorities and private companies, The Block reported.
"The National Security Division will use every tool at its disposal to seize and return North Korea's ill-gotten gains," said M. Scott Proctor, principal deputy assistant attorney general for national security, The Block reported.
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The Justice Department and the CFTC sue Arkansas in federal court to stop the state's case against Kalshi, arguing federal law gives the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction
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Binance says it will reject transfers to MEXC and hold deposits from it for review, ahead of the US Treasury's order against MEXC taking effect on 10 December; MEXC says it is in contact with FinCEN and is operating normally
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Local news read from Brazil, Spanish-language Latin America.
This week's story Licensing
Brazil's central bank says about 30% of the crypto firms applying for authorisation lack the required minimum capital
What happened. Speaking on 10 November, the central bank's director of supervision, Ailton Aquino, said about 30% of the crypto firms that applied for authorisation did not have the share capital its rules require, Livecoins reported.
Why it matters. Firms the central bank does not approve will have to stop doing business with clients, Livecoins reported. Livecoins noted the remark does not yet mean 30% of firms will fail.
Many applicants had not sent the audited financial statements the regulation asks for, Aquino said, Livecoins and PANews reported.
PANews, citing Bitcoin.com, said nearly a third of the 120 virtual asset service providers that applied by the 30 October deadline fell short of the capital rule and may be rejected after review.
NoxPay founder João Paulo Oliveira wrote on X that the list of 120 could halve in the first round of assessment, Livecoins reported.
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What happened. Speaking at the ABRACAM Speech 2026 – Câmbio Cripto event on Tuesday 10 November, the central bank's director of supervision, Ailton Aquino, said about 30% of the crypto firms that applied for authorisation did not have the share capital its rules require, Livecoins reported. He also said many applicants had not sent the audited financial statements the regulation asks for, Livecoins and PANews reported. PANews, citing Bitcoin.com, said nearly a third of the 120 virtual asset service providers that applied by the 30 October deadline fell short of the capital rule and may be rejected after review, and quoted Aquino as saying at least 30% of exchanges did not meet it.
Why it matters. Firms the central bank does not approve will have to stop doing business with clients, Livecoins reported; the list of applicants published on 6 November is still under review. Livecoins noted the director's remark does not yet mean 30% of firms will fail, while NoxPay founder João Paulo Oliveira wrote on X that the list of 120 could halve in the first round of assessment.
Livecoins reported the minimum share capital as R$37.2 million for brokers and intermediaries and R$18.3 million for custodians, under a November 2025 change to Resolution 14 made with the National Monetary Council (CMN).
PANews, citing Bitcoin.com, described the requirement as set by Resolutions 519 and 520, with each institution holding up to US$7.2 million in capital depending on its classification.
Firms had until 30 October to apply, on pain of closing their business by 30 November, and those that chose to close could use the banking system only until 6 November, Livecoins reported.
Earlier reports cited by PANews said the measures had already led Bitnuvem, NovaDAX, Digitra and Coinext to leave the Brazilian market.
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Rio de Janeiro prosecutors' Operação Caronte targets an alleged tax fraud tied to the Manguinhos refinery (Refit); a Rio court orders R$5.6 billion in accounts, assets and crypto blocked; the crypto seized is not yet counted
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A Brazilian Senate committee pulls from its agenda a bill that would require crypto to be bought and sold only through authorised exchanges; no new date set
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Brazil's securities regulator CVM receives 11 proposals for its DLT pilot programme for tokenised securities, more than three times what it expected (on or before 9 Nov)
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Local news read from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Russia.
This week's story Projects & tech
Deutsche Bank opens crypto custody to paying corporate and institutional clients in Europe, starting with bitcoin, ether and three stablecoins
What happened. Deutsche Bank said on 11 November its Digital Asset Custody service is live for institutional and corporate clients in Europe, The Block reported. It holds their bitcoin, ether and USDC, EURC and EURAU stablecoins, Crypto Insiders reported.
Why it matters. Paul Maley of the bank said the medium-term aim is a regulated ecosystem covering the custody, tokenisation and settlement of digital assets, The Block and Decrypt reported.
The service is not for retail customers, and the bank warns that crypto it holds is not covered by deposit protection, Crypto Insiders and Decrypt reported.
The bank signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management to explore tokenised money market funds, crypto exchange-traded commodities and stablecoins, The Block reported.
Deutsche Bank has not said which clients have joined or how much crypto it holds for them, Crypto Insiders and Blockcast reported.
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What happened. Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday 11 November that its Digital Asset Custody service is live for institutional and corporate clients in Europe, The Block, Decrypt and Cointelegraph reported; Decrypt, and BTC-ECHO, Cryptoast and Crypto Insiders citing Reuters, said it is open to paying clients. The bank holds clients' bitcoin, ether and the stablecoins USDC, EURC and EURAU, manages their wallets and private keys and makes transfers to other parties for them, The Block and Crypto Insiders reported. The same day it signed a memorandum of understanding with Deutsche Asset Management, its majority-owned asset manager formerly known as DWS, to explore tokenised money market funds, crypto exchange-traded commodities and stablecoins, The Block and Decrypt reported.
Why it matters. Germany's largest bank announced the plan on 16 September, pending regulatory clearance, Cointelegraph and Cryptoast reported; Crypto Insiders said the service is now in use rather than announced. Paul Maley, the bank's global head of trust and securities services, said the medium-term aim is a regulated ecosystem covering the custody, tokenisation and settlement of digital assets, The Block and Decrypt reported. Cryptoast listed other European banks that already offer crypto custody or trading, among them Commerzbank, Société Générale's SG-FORGE and BBVA.
The service is not for retail customers, and the bank warns that crypto it holds is not covered by deposit protection and is not protected against price falls, fraud or failures of other market participants, Crypto Insiders and Decrypt reported.
Deutsche Bank's entry in the EU's MiCA register for crypto custody and transfer services is dated 12 October and names Germany's BaFin as its supervisor, Cointelegraph and BlockTempo reported; Observatorio Blockchain and BlockTempo said it was made through the notification route MiCA provides for banks.
Private keys are protected by hardware, with warm and cold storage and transaction approvals by several people, The Block and BlockTempo reported.
Taurus has worked with the bank on custody and tokenisation technology since 2023, and Bitpanda's technology arm was reported to be involved, The Block and Cryptoast (citing Bloomberg) reported.
Deutsche Bank has not said which clients have joined or how much crypto it holds for them, Crypto Insiders and Blockcast reported; it plans to extend the service to Asia, BTC-ECHO, Observatorio Blockchain and Decrypt reported.
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Bank of Russia says exchanges may open crypto trading from 22 November once it agrees their trading rules; its list of crypto for ordinary investors takes effect on 17 November
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Trezor says three Safe 5 wallets sold through former reseller CryptoBilis held a hidden chip that could capture recovery words; firmware 2.13.1 blocks it and no funds were reported lost
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Kraken's parent Payward tokenises more than 200 UK- and EU-listed shares as xStocks, tokens that track the price without shareholder rights and are not offered to UK or US residents
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Banks in Project Faro, including Santander and Deutsche Bank, commit about $270 million to run a planned dollar stablecoin issuer for five years, aiming to launch in the first half of 2027, Bloomberg reported
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Dutch lower house passes the Box 3 change taxing shares and some listed crypto funds on realised gains, with a planned start in 2029, while directly held crypto stays taxed on yearly value changes for now; the Senate still has to agree
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Local news read from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Turkey, Egypt.
This week's story Markets
Israel's Discount Bank says retail customers can buy, hold and sell bitcoin and ether in its banking app from 26 November
What happened. Israel's Discount Bank will let individual customers buy, hold and sell bitcoin and ether directly in its banking app from 26 November, PANews reported, citing the bank's website; ChainCatcher reported the same.
Why it matters. Discount Bank says this is a first for Israel's banking sector, PANews reported. Customers would not need a separate digital wallet or an overseas exchange account, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
The service is open only to Israeli residents aged 18 or over who have a securities account, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
Each trade carries a fee of 2% of the amount traded, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
There is no custody fee for the first six months after launch, then 0.25% a quarter, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
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What happened. Israel's Discount Bank will let individual customers buy, hold and sell bitcoin and ether directly in its banking app from 26 November, without opening a separate digital wallet or an overseas exchange account, PANews reported, citing the bank's website; ChainCatcher reported the same. The service is open only to Israeli residents aged 18 or over who have a securities account, both outlets reported.
Why it matters. Discount Bank says this is a first for Israel's banking sector, PANews reported; customers would not need a separate digital wallet or an overseas exchange account, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
Each trade carries a fee of 2% of the amount traded, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
There is no custody fee for the first six months after launch, then 0.25% a quarter, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
Fireblocks provides the custody infrastructure for the assets, PANews and ChainCatcher reported.
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Quiet week: Nothing from this region made our cut this week.
South Asia
Local news read from India.
This week's story Hacks & scams
Indian exchange Unocoin pauses services after a 9 November breach and says it will cover an estimated $200,000 loss
What happened. Unocoin reported unauthorised access to its servers on 9 November and paused user logins, PANews reported. On X it later said 3 of its hot wallets were compromised, with an estimated loss of about $200,000 that it will cover in full, PANews reported.
Why it matters. BitGo said the transactions were signed with two keys Unocoin holds, without BitGo, PANews reported. Unocoin said what was stolen was a backup signing key it controls itself, according to PANews.
Unocoin denied that all funds had been stolen and said no user funds were lost, PANews reported on 12 November.
BitGo said Unocoin's wallet is a 2-of-3 multisig self-custody setup in which Unocoin holds two keys, and that no other client was affected, PANews reported.
Unocoin said some user information may have leaked, but it has found no access to KYC files, PANews reported.
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What happened. Unocoin reported unauthorised access to its servers on 9 November and paused user logins, PANews reported, citing Onchain Lens. Unocoin denied that all funds had been stolen and said no user funds were lost, PANews reported on 12 November; on X it later said 3 of its more than 20 operational hot wallets were compromised, with an estimated loss of about $200,000 that it will cover in full from its own funds without reducing user balances, PANews reported.
Why it matters. Unocoin's custody provider BitGo said the outgoing transactions were signed with two keys Unocoin holds, without BitGo, and that its own systems were not compromised, PANews reported. Unocoin later said what was stolen was a backup signing key it controls itself, not BitGo's infrastructure, according to PANews.
Arkham showed a zero balance across 81,000 tracked Unocoin addresses and the exchange's website returned a 504 error, PANews reported, citing Onchain Lens.
Unocoin said BitGo froze its enterprise account on 6 November at Unocoin's request and the freeze worked as intended, but the unusual outgoing transactions were signed and broadcast outside the BitGo platform, PANews and TechFlow reported.
Unocoin's initial findings were that the backup mechanism in BitGo's multisig wallet, meant to let users reach funds when the provider is unavailable, may have been exploited, TechFlow and PANews reported.
BitGo said Unocoin's wallet is a 2-of-3 multisig self-custody setup in which Unocoin holds two keys and BitGo holds a third that was never used, and that no other client was affected, PANews reported.
Unocoin said some affected funds have been frozen and some user information may have leaked, but it has found no access to KYC files, PANews reported.
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Local news read from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea.
This week's story Hacks & scams
South Korea's financial regulator says it will let exchanges halt deposits and withdrawals when a hack is suspected
What happened. South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) said on 12 November it will issue a no-action letter so exchanges can block deposits and withdrawals pre-emptively when they suspect a hack, under certain conditions, CoinPost and Unchained reported.
Why it matters. The law allows a block only once a hack has clearly occurred, CoinPost reported. The FSC pointed to the Binance hack as showing blocking fast is decisive in limiting harm to users, Unchained reported.
Rules require exchanges to keep 80% of users' crypto in cold (offline) wallets, the FSC said, Digital Asset and Unchained reported.
Only five of the country's 28 crypto businesses, all won-market exchanges, belong to the Financial Security Institute, CoinPost and Unchained reported.
On 6 November the exchange GOPAX halted trading and deposits and limited withdrawals after a hacking threat email, saying no attack had taken place, CoinPost and Cointelegraph reported.
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What happened. South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) held a security meeting for the crypto industry on 12 November, chaired by Vice Chairman Shin Jin-chang, and said it will issue a no-action letter so exchanges can block deposits and withdrawals pre-emptively when they suspect a hack, under certain conditions, Digital Asset, CoinPost and Unchained reported; Cointelegraph also reported the no-action letter. The current Virtual Asset User Protection Act allows a block only once a hack has clearly occurred, the outlets reported. An emergency guideline from the meeting asks exchanges to monitor around the clock; one that cannot should process deposits and withdrawals only in the hours its monitoring works and tell users in advance, Digital Asset and Unchained reported.
Why it matters. Exchanges had said the law leaves it unclear whether they may freeze funds before a hack is confirmed, CoinPost and Unchained reported, and the FSC pointed to the Binance hack as a case showing that blocking fast is decisive in limiting harm to users, Unchained reported. Shin said some businesses' awareness of security has stayed where it was before the industry was regulated, Digital Asset and CoinPost reported.
Rules require exchanges to keep 80% of users' crypto in cold (offline) wallets and the share across all operators is 95% or more, the FSC said; it asked them to keep hot-wallet holdings to the minimum needed for trading and to hold enough insurance and reserves, Digital Asset and Unchained reported.
The planned Digital Asset Act would give crypto businesses the security standards and liability for damages of financial companies; until then the FSC plans a guideline asking for comparable security duties, Digital Asset reported.
Only five of the country's 28 crypto businesses, all won-market exchanges, belong to the Financial Security Institute, CoinPost and Unchained reported, and the FSC will push more to join, CoinPost, Unchained and Digital Asset reported; the institute will revise its exchange security inspection standards within the year, Digital Asset reported (CoinPost attributes the revision to the FSC).
On 6 November the exchange GOPAX halted trading and deposits and limited withdrawals after a hacking threat email, saying no attack had taken place, CoinPost and Cointelegraph reported; its operator Streami attended the 12 November meeting, Unchained reported.
On 24 October the platform Prabang suspended services after detecting abnormal hot-wallet withdrawals and reported losses of about $70,000, Cointelegraph reported.
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South Korea's ruling and opposition parties provisionally agree to delay the crypto tax to 2029
What happened. South Korea's ruling and opposition parties provisionally agreed on 11 November, in the National Assembly's tax subcommittee, to delay the crypto income tax by two years, to 2029, Digital Asset and TechFlow reported. The final vote is due on the subcommittee's last day of review; a loss carry-forward, a higher basic deduction and an early duty on crypto businesses to submit tax data are still being discussed, Digital Asset reported.
Why it matters. People Power Party lawmaker Bae Jun-young, the opposition's lead member on the committee, said that for now the tax can be seen as delayed by two years, Digital Asset reported. It would be the tax's fourth delay; Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hyoung-il told the committee the same day that he took it seriously and expressed regret, Digital Asset reported. People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seok says the tax should be abolished rather than delayed, Digital Asset and PANews reported; the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice says it should start in 2027 as planned, Digital Asset reported.
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South Korea's ruling and opposition parties provisionally agree to delay the crypto tax to 2029
South Korea's government moves to delay its crypto tax by two years, to 2029
South Korea's ruling party puts off its crypto tax decision by one to two weeks
South Korea leans toward delaying its crypto tax a fourth time
South Korea prepares crypto tax rules as talk of a delay grows
Also this week Rules & policy
Japan's securities watchdog asks a Tokyo court to bar three unregistered firms that regulators say pitched bitcoin ETF investing
What happened. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission applied to the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday 10 November for an order barring 4CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC, Shibata Sogo Kenkyujo and Ando Sogo Kenkyujo, and each firm's representative, from what it says is unregistered solicitation of overseas investment products, CoinPost and CRYPTO TIMES reported. The Financial Services Agency added the three firms and their representatives to its list of unregistered businesses the same day. According to an investigation by the Kanto Local Finance Bureau, the firms told investors one of the products could also invest in spot bitcoin ETFs, CoinPost and CRYPTO TIMES reported.
Why it matters. The commission says the three firms raised about 4.9 billion yen from at least 2,141 investors (counted per investment) between February 2021 and February 2026, CoinPost reported. The commission sought the order because it says the unregistered business could continue, CRYPTO TIMES reported. CRYPTO TIMES noted that whether a firm is registered can be checked on the Financial Services Agency's website.
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South Korea's Fair Trade Commission staff send Naver Financial's planned takeover of Upbit operator Dunamu to the full commission, citing competition concerns that include a won stablecoin market not yet formed
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Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission expects the Virtual Asset Services Act to take effect in the first quarter of 2027; existing exchanges will have 21 months from then to get a licence
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Hong Kong police arrest 22 people in an alleged cross-border ring they say laundered more than HK$150 million through crypto OTC shops between August and October
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SBI Holdings and Cambodia's central bank agree on two trials: Cambodian government bonds tokenised on Canton Network, and Japan–Cambodia transfers settled in the yen stablecoin JPYSC
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Kaohsiung prosecutors indict 26 people, including the mother and son who ran OTC crypto dealer Jinniu Baihui, alleging they laundered NT$686 million for scam rings
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Local news read from Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines.
This week's story Rules & policy
Thailand's SEC proposes a 5 million baht daily cap on each customer's stablecoin deposits and withdrawals at each platform
What happened. Thailand's SEC opened a consultation on 12 November on draft rules that would cap each customer's stablecoin deposits, and separately their withdrawals, at 5 million baht a day at each licensed operator, Kaohoon, CoinPost and The Block reported.
Why it matters. The SEC said the rules aim to stop digital assets being used for money laundering, cybercrime or to get around rules on international money transfers, Kaohoon and The Block reported.
Stablecoins could only move to and from accounts or wallets verified as the customer's own, Kaohoon and The Block reported.
Comments are open until 26 November, Kaohoon reported.
Cointelegraph converted the cap to about $148,000 and The Block to about $147,750.
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What happened. Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission opened a public consultation on 12 November on draft rules that would cap each customer's stablecoin deposits, and separately their withdrawals, at 5 million baht a day at each licensed digital asset operator, Kaohoon, CoinPost and The Block reported. Stablecoins could only move to and from accounts or wallets verified as the customer's own; transfers from or to other people's wallets would be barred, Kaohoon and The Block reported. Comments are open until 26 November, Kaohoon reported.
Why it matters. The SEC said the rules aim to stop digital assets being used for money laundering, cybercrime or to get around rules on international money transfers, Kaohoon and The Block reported. CoinPost, citing a 10 September report in the Thai paper Thairath, said many transactions involved USDT sent from anonymous overseas wallets being sold at once in Thailand, or bought and sent abroad, and The Block said the central bank and the SEC had reportedly begun using data analytics to scrutinise unusual USDT trading.
The value moved in or out must match the customer's source of income and financial position, the SEC said, according to The Block and Kaohoon.
The cap would not apply to transfers between a customer's accounts at two Thai operators that both apply the Travel Rule, to operators moving funds for their own business, to operators the Bank of Thailand approves case by case to use stablecoins, to stablecoin/baht market makers, or to subscriptions and refunds in SEC-approved token offerings, Kaohoon and CoinPost reported.
Exchanges would have to name their market makers and the assets they provide liquidity for on their websites, and brokers could not use liquidity providers for stablecoin/baht pairs, Kaohoon reported.
Off-platform deals by brokers and dealers would need a minimum of 3 million baht each, with trading prices disclosed, and brokers could not arrange off-platform deals between two customers, Kaohoon reported.
The draft follows a consultation on the principles held in September 2026, whose comments the SEC said it took into account, Kaohoon reported; Cointelegraph converted the cap to about $148,000 and The Block to about $147,750.
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