Thailand SEC Files Criminal Complaint Against Bitget Before Dec. 5 Block

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission filed a criminal complaint Thursday against BG Limited, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange Bitget, alleging the company ran an unlicensed digital-asset exchange for Thai users from 2022 to 2025, according to Bitcoin Magazine. The regulator simultaneously notified the government to block public access to the platform from Dec. 5, setting up a rare case where an active criminal referral and a pending market-entry deal are unfolding on parallel tracks for the same company.

Event: What the SEC alleges

The complaint, lodged with the Economic Crime Suppression Division, was disclosed in SEC statement No. 241/2026, per Bitcoin Magazine. The regulator's findings describe a sustained commercial operation rather than incidental access: from 2022 through 2025, Bitget allegedly offered a trading system in the ordinary course of business, charged fees, ran a Thai-language website capable of displaying values in baht, and solicited Thai users across social channels including "Bitget Thailand" on X, "BGB Thai Holder" on Telegram and "bitgetthailand" on TikTok, the SEC said. The complaint also names Mr. Kritsana Kritsananuwat as an alleged supporter who promoted Bitget through Facebook and YouTube channels.

The SEC's legal theory is that this 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, according to the regulator's statement as reported by Bitcoin Magazine. The case now moves to an inquiry official, then to prosecutors and the courts, a multi-stage process that will determine whether charges are formally pursued against BG Limited and the named promoter.

The SEC submitted Bitget's website, other domains and its app to Thailand's 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 on Bitget were told to consider acting before the cutoff, per Bitcoin Magazine's reporting.

Implications: A licensed path running alongside a criminal case

The timing complicates a corporate transaction already in motion. Weeks before the complaint, 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, according to a Sept. 24 GMO Internet filing cited by Bitcoin Magazine. 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. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said in an Oct. 20 release, as quoted by Bitcoin Magazine: "Thailand is an important part of Southeast Asia's digital asset landscape, and this acquisition gives us a great opportunity to establish local operations."

That timetable has already slipped once. 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, Bitcoin Magazine reported. The revised Nov. 30 date now sits just five days before the planned Dec. 5 access block — a narrow window in which the acquisition's regulatory approvals and the criminal complaint are proceeding at the same time, without any stated connection between the two from the SEC.

Bitcoin Magazine also noted, citing CoinDesk, that Bitget's own terms of use, updated in October, already list Thailand among jurisdictions where its services are prohibited, and that the SEC has not said whether the criminal complaint will weigh on the GMO-Z change of control. The SEC's statement, per Bitcoin Magazine, does not mention GMO-Z at all, leaving open whether the licensed acquisition and the unlicensed-operation case are being treated as entirely separate regulatory matters or whether the pending criminal referral could affect the change-of-control review.

CoinHours analysis: The structure of this case — a criminal complaint against the operating entity (BG Limited) filed in parallel with an active bid by the same brand to acquire a licensed local exchange — creates a test of how Thai regulators separate corporate identity from historical conduct. Until the SEC or the Ministry clarifies whether the Dec. 5 block applies regardless of the acquisition's outcome, Thai users have no stated carve-out.

What comes next: Precedent, enforcement pattern and the Dec. 5 deadline

Thailand has used the same access-blocking tool before. In mid-2025 the SEC referred Bybit, OKX and three other unlicensed platforms for a June 28 cutoff, telling users to move assets first, according to Bitcoin Magazine. The Bitget action follows that template but adds a new element: a criminal complaint against the exchange operator and a named individual promoter, rather than an access block alone.

Licensed venues remain central to Bangkok's broader policy approach. Bitcoin Magazine reported that Thailand has approved a multi-year capital-gains tax break only for trades conducted on SEC-regulated platforms, and has been expanding regulated crypto products in derivatives and capital markets. Unlicensed platforms, by contrast, face investor alerts, access blocks and — in Bitget's case — a police referral that moves next to an inquiry official and then prosecutors.

What remains unresolved, per Bitcoin Magazine's reporting, is whether a criminal case against BG Limited covering the 2022–2025 period bars, slows or leaves untouched BTGT's bid to take over GMO-Z, the licensed local operator. Bitget had not publicly answered the complaint in any statement posted alongside its acquisition release, Bitcoin Magazine noted. For Thai users still holding assets on Bitget, the practical deadline is Dec. 5, when access to the platform is set to be blocked under the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society order. For Bitget corporately, the open question is whether the Nov. 30 share-transfer date closes a regulated door into Thailand before the criminal complaint becomes the next issue the Economic Crime Suppression Division and the SEC have to address.

Further reading

For background on how licensed trading venues operate and the compliance obligations they carry, see CoinHours' guide on how crypto exchanges work.

Further reading / context