Thailand SEC Files Criminal Complaint Against Bitget Ahead of Dec. 5 Access Block

Thailand's SEC filed a criminal complaint against Bitget operator BG Limited for unlicensed Thai trading from 2022 to 2025.

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission filed a criminal complaint Thursday against BG Limited, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Bitget, alleging it ran an unlicensed digital-asset exchange for Thai users from 2022 to 2025, and notified the government to block the platform from Dec. 5.

The complaint, lodged with the Economic Crime Suppression Division, also names Mr. Kritsana Kritsananuwat as an alleged supporter who promoted Bitget through Facebook and YouTube channels, the SEC said in statement No. 241/2026.

From 2022 through 2025, the regulator found, Bitget offered a trading system in the ordinary course of business, charged fees, ran a Thai-language website that could show values in baht, and solicited Thai users on social channels including “Bitget Thailand” on X, “BGB Thai Holder” on Telegram and “bitgetthailand” on TikTok.

That conduct amounts to operating a digital-asset exchange under Section 3 of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018) without a license, a violation of Section 26 punishable under Section 66, the SEC said. The case now moves to an inquiry official, then prosecutors and the courts.

Separately, the SEC submitted Bitget’s website, other domains and its app to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society under a 2025 royal decree that authorizes access blocks on unlicensed trading platforms. From Dec. 5, the public “will be unable to access the platform,” the statement said, and investors still holding assets there were told to consider acting before the cutoff.

The enforcement push lands weeks after Bitget announced a planned acquisition of GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand), a Bangkok digital-asset exchange and brokerage that already holds Thai licenses, through its interest in BTGT Management (Thailand) Ltd.

Under that deal, GMO Internet and its Thai holding company would transfer their entire stake in GMO-Z — about 49% and 50.94%, respectively — to BTGT or a designee at completion, a Sept. 24 GMO Internet filing showed. Bitget said completion remains subject to regulatory approval and, after a change-of-control nod, it intends to introduce its trading platform to Thai users under local rules.

“Thailand is an important part of Southeast Asia’s digital asset landscape, and this acquisition gives us a great opportunity to establish local operations,” Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said in the Oct. 20 release.

The timetable has already slipped. GMO Internet Group pushed the effective date of the share transfer from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30, citing careful work on Thai regulatory applications and closing procedures. That revised date sits five days before the planned Bitget access block.