Bitkub Accused of Hiding $50M Hack Losses from Thai Regulators

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Bitkub Online Co. Ltd., a cryptocurrency exchange, of hiding losses from regulators following a $50M hack in May 2021. According to the SEC, the exchange failed to reflect the loss in its daily net capital reports between May 10th and October 30th, 2021, and intentionally made false entries in official company documents.

The regulator claims that Bitkub's executives, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, made these false statements to mislead regulators into believing customer assets were intact. However, the exchange eventually procured replacement assets by late October 2021, but not before breaching security protocols.

Bitkub has defended its actions, stating that it chose not to publicly disclose the cyberattack in May 2021 to avert a run on the exchange, which could have destabilized the domestic crypto market. The exchange added that its co-founders absorbed the loss by buying replacement assets in identical amounts and currencies, guaranteeing that customer funds remained intact.