A report that assets worth $50 million were stolen involved false disclosure; Thailand’s SEC has filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub

Mars Finance reports that the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed criminal complaints against the digital asset exchange Bitkub Online and two former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, accusing them of submitting false reports related to a 2021 cyber attack. The SEC said that a cyber attack in May 2021 led to 16 digital assets being stolen from Bitkub, valued at about 1.7 billion Thai baht, which is about $50 million. The regulator said that Bitkub later replenished the stolen assets by October 31, 2021, but the daily net liquid capital reports submitted from May 10 to October 30, 2021 did not accurately reflect the reduction in assets. Bitkub said on X that the case stemmed from disclosure decisions after the May 2021 cyber attack and was not a fraudulent act.

The exchange said the delayed disclosure of wallet damage was intended to avoid a bank run, and that the co-founder later purchased digital assets of equivalent value to cover the stolen funds, with no financial losses incurred by the company or its customers. Bitkub was founded in 2018 and is one of Thailand’s major crypto exchanges. Bitkub’s parent company is considering a potential initial public offering, including the possibility of listing in Hong Kong.