Thailand’s Securities and Alternate Fee filed a prison criticism Thursday in opposition to BG Restricted, the operator of cryptocurrency change Bitget, alleging it ran an unlicensed digital-asset change for Thai customers from 2022 to 2025, and notified the federal government to dam the platform from Dec. 5.
The criticism, lodged with the Financial Crime Suppression Division, additionally names Mr. Kritsana Kritsananuwat as an alleged supporter who promoted Bitget by means of Fb and YouTube channels, the SEC stated in assertion No. 241/2026.
From 2022 by means of 2025, the regulator discovered, Bitget supplied a buying and selling system within the strange course of enterprise, charged charges, ran a Thai-language web site that would present values in baht, and solicited Thai customers on social channels together with “Bitget Thailand” on X, “BGB Thai Holder” on Telegram and “bitgetthailand” on TikTok.
That conduct quantities to working a digital-asset change below Part 3 of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Companies B.E. 2561 (2018) with out a license, a violation of Part 26 punishable below Part 66, the SEC stated. The case now strikes to an inquiry official, then prosecutors and the courts.
Individually, the SEC submitted Bitget’s web site, different domains and its app to the Ministry of Digital Economic system and Society below a 2025 royal decree that authorizes entry blocks on unlicensed buying and selling platforms. From Dec. 5, the general public “will likely be unable to entry the platform,” the assertion stated, and traders nonetheless holding property there have been instructed to contemplate performing earlier than the cutoff.
A licensed path that now sits subsequent to a prison case
The enforcement push lands weeks after Bitget introduced a deliberate acquisition of GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand), a Bangkok digital-asset change and brokerage that already holds Thai licenses, by means of its curiosity in BTGT Administration (Thailand) Ltd.
Below that deal, GMO Web and its Thai holding firm would switch their whole stake in GMO-Z — about 49% and 50.94%, respectively — to BTGT or a designee at completion, a Sept. 24 GMO Web submitting confirmed. Bitget stated completion stays topic to regulatory approval and, after a change-of-control nod, it intends to introduce its buying and selling platform to Thai customers below native guidelines.
“Thailand is a crucial a part of Southeast Asia’s digital asset panorama, and this acquisition offers us an important alternative to ascertain native operations,” Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated within the Oct. 20 launch.
The timetable has already slipped. GMO Web Group pushed the efficient date of the share switch from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30, citing cautious work on Thai regulatory purposes and shutting procedures. That revised date sits 5 days earlier than the deliberate Bitget entry block.
CoinDesk reported that Bitget’s personal phrases of use, up to date in October, already checklist Thailand amongst jurisdictions the place its companies are prohibited, and that the SEC has not stated whether or not the prison criticism will weigh on the GMO-Z change of management.
What the block does and doesn’t settle
Thailand has used the identical access-blocking device earlier than. In mid-2025 the SEC referred Bybit, OKX and three different unlicensed platforms for a June 28 cutoff, telling customers to maneuver property first. The Bitget motion follows that template — and provides a prison criticism in opposition to the change operator and a named promoter.
Licensed venues nonetheless sit on the middle of Bangkok’s coverage combine. Thailand has permitted a multi-year capital-gains tax break just for trades on SEC-regulated platforms, and has been increasing regulated crypto merchandise in derivatives and capital markets. Unlicensed platforms get the alternative therapy: investor alerts, entry blocks and, now for Bitget, a police referral.
What shouldn’t be but clear is whether or not a prison case in opposition to BG Restricted for the 2022–2025 interval bars, slows or leaves untouched BTGT’s bid to take over a licensed native operator. The SEC assertion doesn’t point out GMO-Z. Bitget has not publicly answered the criticism in an announcement posted with the acquisition launch.
For Thai customers nonetheless on Bitget, the sensible clock is Dec. 5. For Bitget, the check is whether or not Nov. 30 closes a regulated door into Thailand — or whether or not the criticism filed Thursday makes that licensed path the subsequent query the ECD and the SEC need to reply.
