Thailand Proposes $148K Daily Limit on Stablecoin Deposits, Withdrawals

Thailand’s securities regulator has outlined new rules aimed at tightening oversight of stablecoin activity, proposing a strict cap on how much customers can deposit or withdraw each day through regulated crypto operators. In a draft proposal released Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the limit would be set at 5 million baht (about $148,000) per customer per day for deposits and withdrawals.

The SEC framed the measures as part of a broader effort to reduce exposure to money laundering and cybercrime, and to prevent regulated services from being used as a workaround for cross-border transfer controls. The proposal also introduces additional compliance requirements for stablecoin transfers and market-operations practices around liquidity.

Key takeaways

• Thailand’s SEC proposes capping daily stablecoin deposits and withdrawals at 5 million baht (about $148,000) per customer at regulated crypto operators.
• The limit would be applied separately to deposits and withdrawals and would be implemented per operator.
• The draft would restrict stablecoin transfers involving third-party wallets and require operators to verify that customers control the wallets used for deposits and withdrawals.
• Crypto providers would need to meet Travel Rule obligations and use blockchain analytics to identify suspicious wallets.
• Additional market-structure rules would require exchanges to disclose market maker identities and details of the assets for which they provide liquidity.

Daily stablecoin flow limits proposed for regulated operators

The SEC’s proposal sets a daily threshold for stablecoin movement conducted through regulated channels. Under the draft, customers would be limited to depositing up to 5 million baht worth of stablecoins per day and withdrawing up to the same amount per day, with the framework described as applying separately to deposits and withdrawals at each regulated operator.

While the exact compliance mechanics are not detailed in the announcement excerpt, the SEC’s approach is clear in its intent: constrain the scale of stablecoin throughput for any one customer in a single day and limit how easily stablecoin rails can be used for rapid value transfer outside of traditional controls.

The regulator said these rules are designed to curb money laundering and cybercrime and to prevent attempts to bypass cross-border money transfer regulations.

Limits on self-custody practices for transfers

Beyond the numeric cap, the draft would impose restrictions on how stablecoin transfers can be executed. According to the SEC, the rules would bar stablecoin transfers to and from third-party wallets.

To operationalize that restriction, the SEC said operators would have to verify that customers own the accounts or wallets used for stablecoin deposits and withdrawals. In practice, this shifts the emphasis from simply processing transactions to enforcing controls that ensure funds move in a manner consistent with the customer’s own custody or authorized wallet ownership.

This type of wallet verification requirement is especially consequential for users who rely on third-party services, such as custodial wallets owned by other entities, automated routers, or services that move funds across multiple wallets. Under the draft, those patterns could be flagged as non-compliant unless the third-party wallet arrangement can be aligned with the operator’s verification process.

Travel Rule compliance and blockchain analytics obligations

The SEC’s draft also calls for Travel Rule adherence and enhanced monitoring. The announcement states that operators would have to comply with the Travel Rule—an approach that requires crypto service providers to collect and share information about transfers.

As referenced in the SEC’s discussion, Travel Rule implementation typically involves controls to exchange transfer information across regulated providers, helping to establish traceability. Alongside these requirements, the SEC said operators should use blockchain analytics to identify wallets linked to suspicious activity.

For compliance teams, the combination of wallet ownership verification, Travel Rule requirements, and blockchain analytics points to a layered system: prevent third-party wallet usage, ensure transfer data is exchanged where required, and detect suspicious behavior based on on-chain indicators.

For users and traders, the key question is how these tools translate into day-to-day transaction acceptance—particularly whether wallet verification and analytics screening will produce delays, additional documentation requests, or transaction refusals when risk signals are detected.

Liquidity and market-structure requirements for exchanges and brokers

Alongside customer-side limits, the SEC draft also addresses how market makers and liquidity arrangements are disclosed and used in stablecoin markets. The regulator said exchanges would be required to name their market makers and identify the assets for which those entities provide liquidity.

Meanwhile, crypto brokers would be barred from using liquidity providers for stablecoin–baht pairs, suggesting the regulator wants additional separation—or at least transparency—between brokerage execution and specific stablecoin liquidity arrangements.

The SEC also indicated that certain off-platform trades would be subject to a minimum size of 3 million baht. The draft’s logic appears to be risk management through thresholds: limit small, potentially higher-frequency activity that could be easier to disguise within large volumes of transactions, while keeping tighter controls on how trades outside standard venues are conducted.

Draft follows earlier SEC consultation in September

This proposal builds on work the SEC began earlier in the year. In September, the SEC reportedly put forward a consultation covering stablecoin transfer limits and tighter oversight of crypto operators. The Thursday announcement described the new draft as following that consultation.

For market participants, the shift from consultation to a more detailed draft matters because it signals the regulator is moving from concept to enforceable rule design. However, investors and operators should still treat the 5 million baht cap and the additional operational requirements as proposals until final adoption—process details and effective dates are not included in the excerpt.

The direction is still consistent: tighter controls on stablecoin flows, stronger verification around wallet ownership, and more explicit transparency around market liquidity and off-platform trading conditions.

For readers watching Thailand’s crypto framework, the main developments to track next are how the SEC finalizes enforcement scope—especially the practical interpretation of “third-party wallets”—and whether market participants will adjust customer flows, custody patterns, and liquidity arrangements to meet the proposed requirements.