Thailand’s SEC has lodged a criminal complaint against crypto exchange Bitkub and two former directors, accusing them of concealing a 2021 hack that drained about 1.7 billion baht (roughly $47 million) in 16 different digital assets.
What regulators allege
The complaint, filed with Thailand’s Economic Crime Suppression Division, says Bitkub continued to submit daily net-capital filings from May to October 2021 that showed no meaningful change in assets after the May 2021 cyberattack — effectively hiding the loss and violating the country’s Digital Asset Business Decree. Two ex-directors named in the complaint, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, are accused of making false entries to mislead the regulator about the state of customer holdings. The case has now been passed to police and prosecutors, who will decide whether to take it to court.
Bitkub’s response and director’s admission
Bitkub pushed back, saying the matter stems from a five-year-old decision about reporting and insisting that customer funds were protected. The exchange said those responsible deliberately withheld disclosure to prevent a bank-run style panic and that Bitkub’s co-founders used personal funds to repurchase replacement assets so neither the company nor customers were left out of pocket. Bitkub also said the SEC had confirmed its holdings were intact as of September 2025.
In a video posted to Facebook and translated by the Bangkok Post, former director Sakolkorn Sakavee took personal responsibility, saying he altered filings without informing other directors or staff and withheld news of the breach because he feared mass withdrawals could have destroyed the business. He said the founders bought back the stolen assets until all customers were made whole, apologized, resigned from Bitkub’s boards and pledged to cooperate with regulators.
Wider context
The case lands while Bitkub — once Thailand’s dominant crypto exchange — is pursuing a public listing. The exchange has lost ground to Binance’s local arm, Binance TH, and now ranks lower on CoinMarketCap (Bitkub at 68th vs. Binance TH at 31st). Bitkub cancelled a planned Stock Exchange of Thailand IPO in November 2025 amid a weak local market and has been exploring a roughly $200 million listing in Hong Kong instead.
Why it matters
The complaint highlights regulatory expectations for transparency from licensed digital-asset firms and underscores the legal risk of concealing major security incidents, even when customer losses are later covered. Prosecutors’ next steps will be closely watched by the Thai crypto industry and international observers as the case progresses.
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