Bitkub Accused of Hiding $53M Theft from Regulators

A Thai crypto exchange called Bitkub has been accused of secretly hiding a $53 million theft from its daily financial reports. The SEC alleges that the exchange concealed the loss in its Form DA 1 reports, which are submitted to regulators on a daily basis.

The alleged cover-up occurred after a cyberattack in May 2021, when customer assets worth around 1.7 billion baht (approximately $53 million) were stolen from Bitkub. The exchange claimed that it chose not to disclose the theft to prevent a bank run while it replaced the stolen assets.

Bitkub's co-founders allegedly absorbed the loss by buying back the same currencies in the same quantities, claiming that neither the company nor its customers suffered any losses as a result of the incident. However, the SEC disputes this, alleging that the exchange gave false statements and made false entries in company documents.