A surge in the number of cryptocurrency traders in Thailand has resulted in a lot of criticism coming from top financial regulators and the country’s authorities.
According to a Bloomberg report, Thailand’s Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith recently revealed that retail investors in the country are excessively speculating on cryptocurrencies.
This increase is a cause of concern to the authorities as they believe that the surge may lead to instability in the country’s capital markets.
The vast majority of retail investors in Thailand are swooping into the cryptocurrency industry, creating high volatility rates. With the hope of making a higher profit with the high-interest rate cryptocurrency promises, these individuals leave the capital market and turn to cryptocurrency.
This move has led to a massive increase in the number of crypto trades in the country. Data shows that the number of cryptocurrency trades made in Thailand’s licensed exchanges went from 19 billion baht [$636 million] to 65 billion baht ($2.17 billion) in January within a space of just one month.
Considering the citizens’ interest in cryptocurrency, Arkhom said,
“Cryptocurrencies have enormous risk. Risk awareness will help those investors in avoiding excessive speculation on those assets.”
While the country’s financial regulatory authorities are frowning upon the recent surge in cryptocurrencies, the report also mentioned that they are “open to new financial instruments including cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as companies’ new funding channels.”
Thailand is experiencing this surge due to the high number of young traders going into the crypto community and trading on various cryptocurrency exchanges in the country showing that the crypto community attracts more young traders than older ones.
In a similar article, Coinfomania covered a conclusion made by some analysts from American banking giant JP Morgan. According to the report, statistics showed that youths are more attracted to Bitcoin, while older generations prefer historical assets like Gold.
These young investors found solace in cryptocurrency trading as a tool to combat the inflations caused by holding fiat and also as a” hedge against the [COVID-19] pandemic-induced crisis.”
