In an interview, a top official from Thai power producer Gulf Energy Development Pcl said the
company plans to complete a joint venture (JV) with Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency
exchange, in the second quarter of this year.
“Once we finish talks with Binance on the business model and shareholder agreements, we’ll form a JV
that will apply to regulators for a licence,” Gulf chief financial officer Yupapin Wangviwat said.
She estimates that the JV will take around six months to secure a trading licence, after which more
features will be added.
Cryptocurrency trading has exploded in Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, with transactions
topping 251 billion baht ($7.57 billion) in November, prompting regulators to step in.
According to Yupapin, the Gulf-Binance crypto exchange would have to follow regulations.
Binance was charged with operating without a digital asset licence by Thailand’s securities regulator
last year.
The company’s entrance into crypto is part of its owner and CEO Sarath Ratanavadi’s intentions to
expand into digital infrastructure, which began last year with a 48 billion baht deal to increase its
stake in InTouch Holdings Pcl to 42 percent.
AIS, the country’s largest mobile operator, is owned by InTouch.
Gulf formed a separate joint venture with Singapore Telecommunications and AIS to build data
centres on Thursday.
Initial plans call for 20 to 40 megawatts (MW) of data centres in Thailand, with a cost of up to $400
million, according to Yupapin.
“In the longer term we plan to reach 100 MW,” Yupapin said on growing demand.
