Crypto exchange KuCoin enters crowded Thailand market

Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin is set to branch further into Southeast Asia, targeting the growing crypto market in Thailand. 

KuCoin is planning to launch a crypto exchange platform offering digital assets and related products in the country, according to an April 23 announcement. 

ERX Company Ltd, Thailand’s first Securities and Exchange Commission-supervised digital token exchange, has rebranded as KuCoin Thailand effective April 22, it stated. 

The crypto exchange will operate under ERX, which recently received a crypto exchange license from the Thai financial regulator. 

“We’re strengthening our ability to offer localized solutions tailored to the Thai market,” said ERX chief executive Att Tongyai Asavanund.

Existing ERX users have been migrated to the new KuCoin Thailand platform, and the KuCoin TH app is available on both Android and iOS. 

KuCoin is entering a crowded market, as there are eight other companies licensed by the Thai SEC to operate as crypto and digital asset exchanges.

These are the WAAN Exchange, Gulf Binance, Thai Digital Assets Exchange, InnovestX Securities, GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics, Upbit Exchange, Bitkub Online and Orbix Trade.

Bitkub is the largest by far and has a current daily trading volume of around $70 million, according to CoinGecko. Comparatively, KuCoin’s global platform claims to have $3.8 billion in daily volume. 

Related: Thailand SEC plans to launch tokenized securities trading system

In January, the Thai government announced a pilot program enabling tourists to pay using Bitcoin (BTC) in a sandboxed environment on the holiday island of Phuket. However, it has yet to be launched. 

While crypto trading remains popular in Thailand, using crypto assets for payments was outlawed by the central bank in 2022. 

In early April, Thai finance regulators targeted foreign peer-to-peer crypto platforms in their latest crackdown in an effort to combat scams and money laundering. 

KuCoin is currently trying to get a settlement with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission resolved after it was sued under the previous administration in March 2024 for violating the Commodity Exchange Act. 

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