Thailand SEC Accuses Bitkub Executives of Concealing $50 Million Hack Loss, Files Criminal Complaint

Odaily Planet Daily News – The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a criminal complaint against cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub Online and two former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, accusing them of submitting false financial reports between May and October 2021. The case has been handed over to the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) for investigation, and prosecutors will decide whether to formally press charges. The SEC stated that Bitkub suffered a cyberattack in May 2021, resulting in the theft of 16 types of digital assets, with losses exceeding $50 million. Regulatory investigations revealed that Bitkub failed to reflect the losses in its daily net capital report Form DA 1 from May 10 to October 30, 2021. According to the SEC, the executives allegedly made false statements in official company documents, leading regulators to believe that customer assets were intact and the company had not suffered financial losses. Bitkub later completed the acquisition of replacement assets in late October 2021, but the SEC believes the reports during this period constituted false representations. In a statement on July 23, Bitkub claimed that existing customer holdings are secure and accounts are complete. Bitkub stated that its co-founder purchased replacement assets of the same quantity and type to cover the losses and claimed that the cyber theft incident was reported to law enforcement on May 10, 2021.