A four-year-old secret finally caught up with one of Southeast Asia’s most prominent crypto exchanges. Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a criminal complaint tied to the Bitkub hack, alleging the exchange and two of its former directors deliberately concealed a $47 million cyberattack from regulators for months — and then submitted false reports to keep the theft hidden.
Summary
Key takeaways
- Thailand’s SEC lodged a criminal complaint against Bitkub and former directors Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan over false regulatory filings.
- A May 2021 cyberattack drained 16 types of digital assets worth 1.7 billion baht ($47 million) from the exchange.
- False net-capital reports were allegedly submitted from May to October 2021, masking the losses entirely.
- The case has been referred to Thailand’s Economic Crime Suppression Division for police and prosecutors to decide on court proceedings.
- Bitkub postponed its planned Stock Exchange of Thailand IPO in November 2025 and is now weighing a $200 million offering in Hong Kong.
Thailand’s SEC Files Criminal Complaint Over the $47M Bitkub Hack
The complaint, lodged with Thailand’s Economic Crime Suppression Division, targets Bitkub Online and two of its former directors over what regulators describe as a systematic cover-up of a major security breach. According to Thailand’s SEC, attackers drained 16 different cryptocurrencies from the platform in May 2021 — a loss that, at the time, amounted to roughly 1.7 billion baht, or approximately $47 million.
What makes the case particularly serious is not just the theft itself. It is what allegedly came after.
Five Months of False Filings
Thailand’s SEC alleges that from May 10 to October 30, 2021, Bitkub’s daily net liquid capital reports showed no meaningful change in the exchange’s digital asset holdings — effectively presenting regulators with a clean bill of health while a major gap in its balance sheet went unacknowledged. The regulator says this violated multiple provisions of Thailand’s Digital Asset Business Decree, including section 88(2), which carries potential penalties of five to ten years in prison and fines between 500,000 and 1,000,000 baht for individuals found guilty of making false entries in corporate documents to deceive any party, according to the BBC Thai report.
Former directors Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, who were responsible for the documents submitted to the regulator during that period, are accused of misleading the SEC into believing customer assets remained fully intact. The case has now moved to police and prosecutors, who will determine whether to bring formal charges before a court.
Admissions, Apologies, and Bitkub’s Defense
Bitkub’s official position frames the situation as a disclosure timing decision rather than fraud. The company said its co-founders used personal funds to purchase equivalent replacement assets, ensuring customers suffered no financial losses. Thailand’s SEC confirmed in September 2025 that the exchange’s customer holdings were verified as intact at that point.
Sakolkorn Sakavee Takes Sole Responsibility
In a video statement posted to Facebook, former director Sakolkorn Sakavee went further than the company’s official line. According to a translation by the Bangkok Post, he acknowledged that he personally altered the filings without informing other directors or staff. His stated reason: fear that publicly disclosing the hack would trigger a bank run that could have destroyed the exchange entirely.
“If something like this happened, customers would panic, those whose coins were stolen would lose money, and people would rush to withdraw,” he explained, according to the BBC Thai report. Sakolkorn said the co-founders collectively spent their own money to repurchase every stolen asset and restore customer balances. He apologized publicly, resigned from the company’s boards, and pledged full cooperation with regulators.
The admission is significant. By taking personal ownership of the decision to alter filings, Sakolkorn has potentially drawn the legal exposure away from the company’s broader leadership — but he has also confirmed the central allegation that the SEC’s complaint rests on.
What This Means for Bitkub’s Market Position and IPO Ambitions
The timing of the complaint lands at a difficult moment for Bitkub. The exchange was once Thailand’s undisputed dominant crypto platform, but it has since been overtaken by Binance TH, the local arm of the global exchange giant. According to CoinMarketCap data cited by Decrypt, Binance TH ranks 31st among global exchanges while Bitkub sits at 68th.
The company had been working toward a public listing as a way to reassert its standing. Those plans hit a wall in November 2025, when Bitkub shelved a planned IPO on the Stock Exchange of Thailand as local market conditions deteriorated. The exchange has since been weighing a $200 million offering in Hong Kong as an alternative route to the public markets.
That ambition now faces a harder road. Criminal complaints lodged by national securities regulators are precisely the kind of disclosure that prospective investors and underwriters scrutinize closely. Even if prosecutors ultimately decline to bring the case to court, the reputational weight of the SEC’s action — and the public admission by a former director that regulatory filings were falsified — creates a material complication for any listing process, whether in Bangkok or Hong Kong.
The broader implication extends beyond Bitkub. Thailand’s SEC has been tightening enforcement across the digital asset sector, with regulators also examining high-value stablecoin transactions and large cash flows for potential anti-money laundering issues. This complaint signals that Thai authorities are willing to pursue criminal referrals for disclosure failures, not just administrative sanctions — a shift that will be watched closely by every licensed crypto operator in the country.
FAQ
What was the nature of the criminal complaint filed by Thailand’s SEC against Bitkub?
Thailand’s SEC filed a complaint alleging that Bitkub and two former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, submitted false net-capital reports to regulators that hid the impact of a $47 million hack from May to October 2021, in violation of Thailand’s Digital Asset Business Decree.
How did Bitkub respond to the allegations of hiding the hack?
Bitkub stated that customer funds remain safe and that the exchange’s co-founders replaced all stolen assets using their own personal funds. The company framed the non-disclosure as a decision made to prevent a bank run, rather than an act of fraud, and noted that the SEC confirmed customer holdings were intact as of September 2025.
Who took responsibility for the false reporting within Bitkub?
Former director Sakolkorn Sakavee publicly admitted that he personally altered the regulatory filings without informing other directors or staff. He apologized, resigned from the company’s boards, and pledged to cooperate fully with regulators.
How has the Bitkub hack affected the company’s market position and IPO plans?
Bitkub has been overtaken by Binance TH in global exchange rankings and postponed its planned IPO on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in November 2025. The company is now considering a $200 million listing in Hong Kong instead, though the criminal complaint adds further uncertainty to those ambitions.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
