The recent crash in bitcoin prices has thrown a spanner in the works of another would-be crypto miner in Thailand.
SCI Electric Plc, which had approved an investment of 140 million baht ($4.1 million) in the bitcoin mining business through its subsidiary SCI Venture Company Ltd, has decided to postpone its plans for now. Mining bitcoins may not generate attractive returns, the company said in a statement.
The company has instead decided to invest up to 30 million baht only in digital assets trading, the statement added.
It will start purchasing cryptocurrencies through exchanges from Monday, and complete it by Q3 2022.
In February this year, the Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had urged telecom-turned-crypto-company Jasmine Technology’s shareholders to make a “careful study and decision” of an independent financial adviser’s call to reject the firm’s mining plan, Bloomberg had reported. However, the investment was ultimately approved in spite of the recommendation.
The capital market regulator had also issued a trading alert after steel pipe manufacturer Ziga Innovation’s shares hit record highs in February after it announced an investment in bitcoin mining.
A month later in March, the SEC issued a notice banning payments using cryptocurrencies and all other virtual assets with effect from April 2022. The notice implied that consumers would not be able to purchase goods and services using cryptocurrencies and businesses would not be accepting crypto payments from April.