Thai SEC Fines Bitkub CTO $200,000 for Insider Trading

The Chief Technology Officer of Thai crypto exchange Bitkub has been fined for insider trading, the country’s securities regulator has said.

Samrong Wachanasathien was ordered to pay a fine of around $235,000 and banned from holding an executive position for 12 months after an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 

The SEC said that Samrong misused inside information from the firm to trade Bitkub Coin digital tokens (KUB).

“This is inside information about Bitkub. On November 2 2021, the transaction price of the KUB token increased compared to the pre-disclosure period. The highest price of the day was at 99.99 baht, an increase of 101% from 49.53 baht, which is the last price before the disclosure of information,” read the statement.

Thai committee imposes civil fine

Thailand’s Civil Sanctions Committee (OCSC) applied civil sanctions to Samrong, according to the SEC. This includes civil fines to reimburse the amount equal to the benefits received or receivable and compensation for SEC’s expenses due to the investigation of the “wrongdoings.”

Samrong had a habit of buying large amounts of KUB coins continuously, amounting to over 1.9 million baht, worth $60,000, the regulator added.

The news comes as Thailand’s oldest lender pulled out of a $500 million deal to buy Bitkub, which had been delayed since July.

The SCBX Group announced planned to buy 51% of Bitkub last Nov as a part of a major digital strategy.

Last month, the banking giant said that the completion period of the deal was being extended amid ongoing discussions with the regulators. 

This was after the SEC imposed civil penalties on Sakolkorn Sakavee, chairman of Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, for falsifying information about the exchange’s trading volume of digital assets.

However, the parties agreed to terminate the transaction despite due diligence on the company discovering no unusual issues.