Thai SEC Cracks Down on Bitkub Over Concealed $51 Million Hack

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub, the country's largest crypto exchange, over allegations that it concealed a 2021 hack. In May 2021, hackers stole approximately $51 million worth of cryptocurrency from Bitkub, but this was not reported in the company's daily filings between May 10 and October 30.

The regulator found that Bitkub did not report the theft in its daily net capital reports (Form DA 1) in a manner consistent with the incident. This meant that the reports contained false information, giving the impression that customer assets were being held normally and that the company had suffered no damage.

Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, Bitkub's directors at the time, were responsible for submitting these reports and were named alongside the company in the complaint. Bitkub acknowledged that it did not disclose the hack to prevent a bank run, which could have led to widespread losses for customers.