The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) has initiated criminal prosecution of the Bitkub Online crypto exchange and two of its former executives in connection with financial reporting violations following a cyberattack in May 2021. The documentation has been submitted to the Department for Combating Economic Crimes for consideration. The regulator claims that the company provided false information in its daily net worth reports, and ex-directors Sakolkorn Sakavi and Thavisap Ravan knowingly made false entries in corporate documents. According to SEC estimates, as a result of the incident, 16 types of digital assets worth about 1.7 billion Thai baht (approximately 47 million US dollars) were stolen from the platform.

According to the regulator's position, the reports for the period from May 10 to October 30, 2021 did not contain information about a significant change in the balance of assets of the exchange, which qualifies as a violation of section 76 of the Decree on the Business of Digital Assets of 2018. In response to the accusations, Bitkub representatives stated that certain individuals had decided not to disclose the fact that one of the wallets had been compromised in order to prevent massive withdrawals by customers. The company's management emphasizes that the exchange and its users did not suffer financial losses, since the co-founders purchased digital assets of the same type and in the same volume as the stolen funds at their own expense.

Despite the exchange's statements, the SEC insists that the distorted reports misled the supervisory authority about the real safety of client funds and the absence of damage to the platform itself. According to local media, Sakolkorn Sakavi took responsibility for independently changing the reports, citing fears of provoking panic among users. The Commission clarified that after the complaint is filed, the case will undergo a standard procedure, including an investigation, a decision by the prosecutor's office to file charges, and subsequent court proceedings. It is worth noting that in November 2021, Thailand's oldest bank Siam Commercial Bank acquired a 51 percent stake in Bitkub, investing about 17.85 billion baht in the company.