Ripple cites Thailand, Abu Dhabi; pushes a global standard for digital asset class

Ripple released its second blog in the three-part series of “The Case for Digital Asset Regulation” on Monday. Here, it elaborated the scenario of the FinTech in the ASEAN region of the world, especially Thailand. It also discussed the events and approach taking place in the Middle East, and more specifically, in Abu Dhabi.

In the first part of the series, Ripple dissected the topics related to the Mt Gox hack and progression of the cryptocurrency space in Japan through country’s regulatory approach. In the latest piece, the company conducted a similar exploration, but in Thailand and Abu Dhabi.

Regarding Thailand’s journey to shape a regulatory framework for digital assets, Ripple stated that the country initially chose to ban the traditional banks from offering their services to platforms dealing with digital assets.

However, Bank of Thailand [BoT], the central banking authority of Thailand, soon realized that the respective asset class is imperative to its goal of emerging as the FinTech hub in the ASEAN region. Hence, the apex financial authority then switched to more progressive ways of dealing with the situation by sculpting regulations that would push for innovation and encourage investment in the space.

Next, Ripple identified Abu Dhabi Global Markets [ADGM]’s attempt at becoming a dominant figure in the FinTech revolution of the Middle East. ADGM is an international financial center that, similarly to BoT, formed a regulatory framework for the digital asset class. The key reason behind ADGM’s move was to promote and flourish digital asset hub in the Middle East for the FinTech industry.

In the blog, it was also mentioned that Thailand approached digital currencies and assets to protect the investor interests and steadily moved towards the promotion of the asset class. On the other hand, the financial center in Abu Dhabi skipped the steps of acceptance and moved on the path of establishment and promotion.

A Twitter handle named London Crypto Services Ltd took to the Twitter thread to comment on Ripple’s post and stated:

“Ripple momentum is gathering pace!”

Another user, Rémi Férat also cheered in favor of the ecosystem and wrote:

“Come on Ripple !”