Bitkub SEC/AMLO interview

[Jenkins9039]

Seems Bitkub is now requiring its users to carry out an interview with the SEC and AMLO division, got an invite today. 

 

 

 

 

[ukrules]

Tell them nothing ????

[Heng]

Compare to the old Chinese practicality of CZ's Binance rules...  If you're unverified, you can "only" withdraw 2 BTC per day.   If you're 2nd tier verified, then 100.   

[Jenkins9039]

Not entirely sure what their planned questions will be ha ha

[ukrules]

28 minutes ago, Jenkins9039 said:

Not entirely sure what their planned questions will be ha ha

 

Did you complete a questionnaire when you signed up to the exchange?

 

In my experience they ask things about the source of your deposited funds, whether you're employed and then go on to ask about the level of risk you're prepared to tolerate.

 

For example they might ask you what you would do if you bought 100,000 Baht worth of something which then fell by 20% in price, would you sell, continue to hold, panic, etc

 

But these questions are normally asked when you sign up, however if you have an older account they might not have had these procedures in place at that time and now is the time to catch up.....

[Jenkins9039]

10 minutes ago, ukrules said:

 

Did you complete a questionnaire when you signed up to the exchange?

 

In my experience they ask things about the source of your deposited funds, whether you're employed and then go on to ask about the level of risk you're prepared to tolerate.

 

For example they might ask you what you would do if you bought 100,000 Baht worth of something which then fell by 20% in price, would you sell, continue to hold, panic, etc

 

But these questions are normally asked when you sign up, however if you have an older account they might not have had these procedures in place at that time and now is the time to catch up.....

Yes those questions were asked in 2019, mainly its been deposits opposed to purchases onshore, guessing thats the reason, but weird they are doing this now 

[Jenkins9039]

36 minutes ago, ukrules said:

 

Did you complete a questionnaire when you signed up to the exchange?

 

In my experience they ask things about the source of your deposited funds, whether you're employed and then go on to ask about the level of risk you're prepared to tolerate.

 

For example they might ask you what you would do if you bought 100,000 Baht worth of something which then fell by 20% in price, would you sell, continue to hold, panic, etc

 

But these questions are normally asked when you sign up, however if you have an older account they might not have had these procedures in place at that time and now is the time to catch up.....

Just to confirm, you’ve done one of these video interviews also ?

[ukrules]

47 minutes ago, Jenkins9039 said:

Just to confirm, you’ve done one of these video interviews also ?

 

No, it wasn't a video interview, just a web form with check boxes during the verification process in my case.

 

I sent Baht from my bank account here and bought coins which I then moved elsewhere. Most of my trading and initial purchases were done completely outside of Thailand from the UK but long ago.

 

So what they're doing here is very different, please do keep us posted on this, it's very interesting to see how things play out.

 

When you say "mainly its been deposits opposed to purchases onshore" are you talking about Bitcoin deposits or Baht deposits to buy crypto and then move it elsewhere?

 

I did cash out a few bitcoin a couple of years ago on a Thai exchange which has since closed down.

 

[Jenkins9039]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

 

No, it wasn't a video interview, just a web form with check boxes during the verification process in my case.

 

I sent Baht from my bank account here and bought coins which I then moved elsewhere. Most of my trading and initial purchases were done completely outside of Thailand from the UK but long ago.

 

So what they're doing here is very different, please do keep us posted on this, it's very interesting to see how things play out.

 

When you say "mainly its been deposits opposed to purchases onshore" are you talking about Bitcoin deposits or Baht deposits to buy crypto and then move it elsewhere?

 

I did cash out a few bitcoin a couple of years ago on a Thai exchange which has since closed down.

 

I've held BTC since 2010, bought 3,000$ worth back then (as a means of exchange for scripture for penetration testing), so held since then what was not used at the time, likewise added over the years inc ETH.

 

I've never bought Crypto in Thailand, but recently moved some from my offshore crypto exchange (recorded) to sell (as stable coin) on Bitkub (month back) no issues, today i got the email about this:

 

Customer Protection (bitkub)

Feb 22, 2021, 18:55 GMT+7

Dear Valued Customer,

In order to follow the regulations from The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), Bitkub would like to ask for your cooperation to do an additional verification. Please select the verification channel as follows:
 

• Video Call Interview: Please schedule a date and time for a video call between 10:00 AM - 08:00 PM (GMT +07 Thailand Time) via this link ________________________________
  * At the interview time, we will send you a Google Meet link for you to join a video call with us and video call verification results will be within 24 hours after the interview.

Thank you for your kind cooperation.

Best Regards,
Customer Protection Officer
Bitkub Support Associate

FAQs | [email protected] | 02-032-9555

 

 

Note when i logged in also this evening i had to accept new T&C's, more than happy to do verification would like to increase much more, but unsure why i would have a interview with the SEC and AMLO.

 

A few others have also rec according to various groups, and are as surprised also.

[ukrules]

I'm not sure how up to date you are with regards to crypto tax laws in Thailand but there were changes a couple of years back.

 

If I were you and have plenty of out of country holdings then I would look into this with an accountant.

 

There was talk of taxing worldwide crypto profits and I believe it was written into published law back in 2018 in the Royal Gazette.

 

There is some info here https://pugnatorius.com/bitcoin-taxation/

 

and more recently here (from the same people) - these are just some Bangkok company, I've never dealt with them.

 

 

I personally wouldn't provide any video evidence / interview until I had taken advice on this unless it's small / trivial amounts involved.

 

Edit: They might want you to register for tax depending on where the money came from.

My advice is to seek advice. There is talk of withholding taxes so it might be about that.

Edited February 22, 2021 by ukrules

[userabcd]

6 hours ago, ukrules said:

I'm not sure how up to date you are with regards to crypto tax laws in Thailand but there were changes a couple of years back.

 

If I were you and have plenty of out of country holdings then I would look into this with an accountant.

 

There was talk of taxing worldwide crypto profits and I believe it was written into published law back in 2018 in the Royal Gazette.

 

There is some info here https://pugnatorius.com/bitcoin-taxation/

 

and more recently here (from the same people) - these are just some Bangkok company, I've never dealt with them.

 

 

I personally wouldn't provide any video evidence / interview until I had taken advice on this unless it's small / trivial amounts involved.

 

Edit: They might want you to register for tax depending on where the money came from.

My advice is to seek advice. There is talk of withholding taxes so it might be about that.

Sherrings list this Thailand cryptocurrency tax on their web site... link as follows https://sherrings.com/cryptocurrency-income-personal-tax-thailand.html

 

[userabcd]

7 hours ago, Jenkins9039 said:

I've held BTC since 2010, bought 3,000$ worth back then (as a means of exchange for scripture for penetration testing), so held since then what was not used at the time, likewise added over the years inc ETH.

 

I've never bought Crypto in Thailand, but recently moved some from my offshore crypto exchange (recorded) to sell (as stable coin) on Bitkub (month back) no issues, today i got the email about this:

 

Customer Protection (bitkub)

Feb 22, 2021, 18:55 GMT+7

Dear Valued Customer,

In order to follow the regulations from The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), Bitkub would like to ask for your cooperation to do an additional verification. Please select the verification channel as follows:
 

• Video Call Interview: Please schedule a date and time for a video call between 10:00 AM - 08:00 PM (GMT +07 Thailand Time) via this link ________________________________
  * At the interview time, we will send you a Google Meet link for you to join a video call with us and video call verification results will be within 24 hours after the interview.

Thank you for your kind cooperation.

Best Regards,
Customer Protection Officer
Bitkub Support Associate

FAQs | [email protected] | 02-032-9555

 

 

Note when i logged in also this evening i had to accept new T&C's, more than happy to do verification would like to increase much more, but unsure why i would have a interview with the SEC and AMLO.

 

A few others have also rec according to various groups, and are as surprised also.

It reads Bitkub want to do additional verification according to AMLO and SEC regulations. I assume from their interview findings that if they find irregularities then they will report it to AMLO, SEC and the tax authorities.

[Jenkins9039]

7 hours ago, ukrules said:

I'm not sure how up to date you are with regards to crypto tax laws in Thailand but there were changes a couple of years back.

 

If I were you and have plenty of out of country holdings then I would look into this with an accountant.

 

There was talk of taxing worldwide crypto profits and I believe it was written into published law back in 2018 in the Royal Gazette.

 

There is some info here https://pugnatorius.com/bitcoin-taxation/

 

and more recently here (from the same people) - these are just some Bangkok company, I've never dealt with them.

 

 

I personally wouldn't provide any video evidence / interview until I had taken advice on this unless it's small / trivial amounts involved.

 

Edit: They might want you to register for tax depending on where the money came from.

My advice is to seek advice. There is talk of withholding taxes so it might be about that.

Already registered for tax (have a TIN), own funds sat for years, converted to stable, deposited in thailand, all records to back up.

[moldresistant]

1 hour ago, userabcd said:

Hiding something???

Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. —Edward Snowden

 

Why place yourself under the attention of authorities if you don't need to? There's also the security aspect of it...do you really trust some random server with all your sensitive info? Data breaches happen a lot. And that data will be sold on the dark web to scammers. I'd rather not feed into that.

[Jenkins9039]

9 hours ago, ukrules said:

I personally wouldn't provide any video evidence / interview until I had taken advice on this unless it's small / trivial amounts involved.

 

You are more likely to have 'problems' if you shy away from it, as they will then for certain push it to AMLO.

 

I've got nothing to hide, i am just somewhat surprised that I am having to go through this, especially as its 'after the event', naturally i have concerns about doing it (this is Thailand after-all), but its easily explainable (already downloaded the financial flow of purchases to redemption).

 

I've already had criminal checks carried out on me for my visa (type), so I have already passed there, and I've invested a great deal of money (depreciating) in Thailand, so don't need to 'launder', but as they always say, I do have concerns opening my financial position to strangers in a country where they routinely have 'suicides', or 'robberies' etc, the exchange for all sense of purpose won't be used again after this interview by myself, as its put me in a position where any greedy Thai that has access to the interview and the content within perhaps may put a gun to my head and demand i hand over my money - we've seen this time and time again in the news, I just don't trust the system enough, and with good reason.

[Jenkins9039]

25 minutes ago, moldresistant said:

Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say. —Edward Snowden

 

Why place yourself under the attention of authorities if you don't need to? There's also the security aspect of it...do you really trust some random server with all your sensitive info? Data breaches happen a lot. And that data will be sold on the dark web to scammers. I'd rather not feed into that.

Privacy is a fundamental right, but the exchange you are recommending is used for money laundering, you could find yourself in a criminal case with a 100 yr prison term for just exchanging crypto for fiat or the other-way around, better to put that liability on the exchange.

[moldresistant]

25 minutes ago, Jenkins9039 said:

Privacy is a fundamental right, but the exchange you are recommending is used for money laundering, you could find yourself in a criminal case with a 100 yr prison term for just exchanging crypto for fiat or the other-way around, better to put that liability on the exchange.

I wasn't aware of that... but some Google searches show me what you're talking about... good point.

 

Coins.co.th asks for less personal information than Bitkub. They are fully legal as far as I know, but a bit over priced. Probably the safest bet at the moment for buying with THB. But why even do that in the first place? Maybe better to just buy with your home currency and keep it out of Thailand all together.

[ukrules]

3 hours ago, Jenkins9039 said:

I've got nothing to hide, i am just somewhat surprised that I am having to go through this, especially as its 'after the event', naturally i have concerns about doing it (this is Thailand after-all), but its easily explainable (already downloaded the financial flow of purchases to redemption).

 

I suspect Bitkub will be under increased scrutiny from legislators since their recent outage and they're covering every angle.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they're being audited and some oversights are showing up which may explain why they want to speak to you.

 

Did they retain a withholding tax against your sales / withdrawals because under the new 2018 law I suspect they possibly should have done ?

 

The page mentioned by userabcd does contain some information and this is the law I was referring to in earlier posts : https://sherrings.com/cryptocurrency-income-personal-tax-thailand.html

 

I haven't done a sale or withdrawal from any exchange since before the new law came in and have no intention of ever selling anything which would involve paying a large amount of tax, especially in a country where I'm merely considered as a tourist who pays for his stay in the form of a TE visa.

 

If they didn't charge the withholding tax then this might be part of the process of the reasonably new laws catching up with reality over at Bitkub. This is pure speculation on my part but interesting all the same and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by ukrules

[Jenkins9039]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

 

I suspect Bitkub will be under increased scrutiny from legislators since their recent outage and they're covering every angle.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they're being audited and some oversights are showing up which may explain why they want to speak to you.

 

Did they retain a withholding tax against your sales / withdrawals because under the new 2018 law I suspect they possibly should have done ?

 

The page mentioned by userabcd does contain some information and this is the law I was referring to in earlier posts : https://sherrings.com/cryptocurrency-income-personal-tax-thailand.html

 

I haven't done a sale or withdrawal from any exchange since before the new law came in and have no intention of ever selling anything which would involve paying a large amount of tax, especially in a country where I'm merely considered as a tourist who pays for his stay in the form of a TE visa.

 

If they didn't charge the withholding tax then this might be part of the process of the reasonably new laws catching up with reality over at Bitkub. This is pure speculation on my part but interesting all the same and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

I doubt it’s WHT as that’s not applicable currently (bitkub declare they don’t report) as there’s no proper legislated way to collect it currently. 
 

most likely as I withdraw 8m thb, but even where that’s concerned 7% of that is paid as tax to the government and 0.5% to the tax department as part of a purchase. 
 

I suspect it’s completely down to the volume in one period of time over a week on a “aged” but previously unused account. That would make sense for AMOL being part of the interview, and the SEC have jurisdiction over investors it seems, I also know I am not the only one as another brought it up on their chat recently (foreigner), I also know my wife has not been requested and she sold her BNB recently. 

[Conno]

Jenkins9039 Sent you a private direct message.

[Jenkins9039]

FYI that was a yank doing the interview who didn’t speak any Thai at all.