The archive · Money & Fintech · Operational decision · 2021–2026
Bitkub hid a 1.7bn-baht hack to avoid a bank run, then faced SEC criminal charges
Thailand's biggest exchange hid a 2021 hack worth 1.7 billion baht and quietly repaid customers; the cover-up itself became an SEC criminal case in 2026.
Bitkub (Bitkub Online)
What the business is
Thailand's largest licensed digital-asset exchange, where retail investors buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency with baht.
Starting capital：Reached unicorn status after Siam Commercial Bank announced a landmark acquisition worth 35 billion baht, per Bangkok Post.
How it started
Bitkub rode the 2021 crypto boom to become Thailand's largest digital asset exchange, creator of the KUB Coin, and a unicorn after Siam Commercial Bank announced a landmark acquisition worth 35 billion baht.
What happened
On May 10, 2021, attackers withdrew 16 digital assets worth about 1.7 billion baht, including customer holdings. The breach was never disclosed to customers or regulators. Co-founders quietly bought back the missing coins with personal funds, fully restoring holdings by October 31, 2021, while the daily net-capital reports Bitkub filed with the SEC from May 10 to October 30 showed a normal balance, hiding the theft.
How it ended up
On July 23, 2026, the Thai SEC filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub Online and former directors Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan - false information to the regulator (Section 76) and false entries in company documents (Section 88/2). That evening Sakavee posted a video admitting he altered and signed the reports alone, apologised, and said he had resigned from all positions.
Background
Bitkub was the face of Thailand's crypto boom: the country's largest digital asset exchange, creator of the KUB Coin, and a unicorn after Siam Commercial Bank announced a landmark acquisition worth 35 billion baht. On May 10, 2021, at the peak of the mania, hackers withdrew 16 digital assets worth about 1.7 billion baht, including customer holdings.
The company chose silence. The breach was never disclosed to customers or regulators; co-founders quietly bought back the missing coins with personal funds, fully restoring holdings by October 31, 2021. The daily net-capital reports Bitkub filed with the SEC from May 10 to October 30 showed a normal balance throughout - concealment that one director, Sakolkorn Sakavee, said he ordered alone because he feared a 'bank run' would destroy the exchange.
Five years later the state caught up. On July 23, 2026, the Thai SEC filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub Online and former directors Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan for giving false information to the regulator and making false entries in company documents. That evening Sakavee posted a video admitting he altered and signed the reports himself, apologised, and resigned from all positions; the exchange insists customers never lost a baht.
What has to be true
- The concealment worked in the market: no run happened, customers were made whole, and the exchange kept its crown - but it converted a recoverable hack into five years of criminal exposure.
- Founder-funded rescues are only noble in the open: paying back stolen assets with personal money while filing false reports turned rescuers into defendants.
- One director held the signing authority, so a single person's panic calculus decided the company's legal fate with no board oversight.
- Regulators judge what you report, not just the outcome: the SEC verified all assets were safe on September 8, 2025, and pursued the false filings anyway.
- The dreaded run happened in slow motion anyway: when the story finally emerged, trust was lost publicly in a criminal case and victim complaints, not in the panic he feared.
What can be applied
In a regulated business the cover-up is the crime: a hack you can survive on the balance sheet becomes fraud the moment you file a false report, even when every customer ends up whole.
Aftermath
The case is with the Economic Crime Suppression Division; prosecutors and courts are next. Sakavee says the decision was his alone and he will cooperate; Bitkub argues the withholding protected customers, cites the SEC's September 8, 2025 confirmation that customer assets were accounted for, and points to custody partners BitGo and Coinbase. Nine victims who lost a combined 38 million baht in thefts involving the Bitkub system complained to the SEC in March 2026. Bitkub runs Thailand's largest exchange and told Bangkok Post in April 2026 it was diversifying and eyeing a Hong Kong listing.
Sources
- SEC files criminal complaint over Bitkub's alleged concealment of B1.7bn hack
- Bitkub SEC complaint follows five-year hack cover-up
- Bitkub Pushes Back After Thai SEC Complaint Over 2021 Cyberattack Disclosures
- Where does Bitkub go from here?
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