Thailand's SEC accuses Bitkub executives of concealing a $50 million hacking loss and has filed a criminal complaint

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand has filed a criminal complaint against the cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub Online and two former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, accusing them of submitting false financial reports between May and October 2021. The case has been handed over to the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) of Thailand for investigation, and the prosecution will decide whether to formally charge them.

The SEC stated that Bitkub suffered a cyber attack in May 2021, resulting in the theft of 16 types of digital assets, with losses exceeding $50 million. Regulatory investigations revealed that Bitkub did not reflect the relevant losses in its daily net capital report Form DA 1 from May 10 to October 30, 2021. The SEC alleged that the relevant executives made false statements in the company's official documents, leading regulators to believe that customer assets were intact and that the company had not suffered financial losses. Bitkub subsequently completed the acquisition of alternative assets in late October 2021, but the SEC believes that the reports during this period constituted false statements.

In a statement on July 23, Bitkub asserted that existing customer holdings are secure and accounts are complete. Bitkub stated that its co-founders purchased alternative assets in the same quantity and currency to cover the losses and claimed that the cyber theft incident was reported to law enforcement on May 10, 2021.