Thailand’s SEC Files Criminal Complaint Against Bitkub Over Undisclosed $47M Hack

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a criminal complaint against crypto exchange Bitkub and two of its former directors, alleging they submitted false reports to the regulator after a 2021 hack.

According to reports in local media, the complaint, lodged with Thailand’s Economic Crime Suppression Division, stems from a May 2021 cyberattack in which 16 types of digital assets worth 1.7 billion baht ($47 million) were drained from the exchange. From May to October 2021, the SEC alleges, Bitkub’s daily net-capital filings showed no significant change in its assets, hiding the loss, in breach of the country’s Digital Asset Business Decree.

The two former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, are accused of making false entries to mislead the regulator into believing customer assets were intact. The case now passes to police and prosecutors, who will decide whether to bring it to court.

Bitkub said the matter concerns a five-year-old reporting decision and that customer funds are safe. Those responsible chose not to disclose the wallet theft to avoid triggering a bank run, the company said, and its co-founders bought replacement assets in the same amounts, leaving neither Bitkub nor its customers out of pocket. The SEC had confirmed its holdings were intact as of September 2025, it added.

In a video statement posted to Facebook, Sakolkorn took sole responsibility, according to a translation by the Bangkok Post. The former director reportedly said he altered the filings himself without telling other directors or staff and withheld news of the hack, fearing panic withdrawals and a “bank run” that could have destroyed the exchange. Sakolkorn added that Bitkub’s founders used their own money to buy back the stolen assets until every customer was repaid. He apologized, resigned from the company’s boards, and pledged to cooperate with regulators.

The case comes as Bitkub, once Thailand’s dominant crypto exchange, works toward a public listing. It has since been overtaken by Binance’s local arm, Binance TH, which ranks 31st among global exchanges to Bitkub’s 68th, per CoinMarketCap. Bitkub shelved a planned Stock Exchange of Thailand IPO in November 2025 as the local market slumped, and was weighing a $200 million offering in Hong Kong instead.