Bitkub CTO fined THB8.53m, barred from holding exec position for a year
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered Bitkub chief technology officer Samret Wajanasathian on Tuesday to pay a fine of 8.53 million baht and barred him from holding an executive position for 12 months in an alleged insider-trading case.
Tuesday’s order came after the SEC in May hit Bitkub, Thailand’s largest cryptocurrency exchange company, with fines for failing to comply with market regulations before listing the platform’s native token KUB.
Last week, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) backed out of a 17.8-billion-baht deal to purchase a majority stake in Bitkub, citing unresolved issues with the SEC.
The insider-trading case stems from an incident last November, when the SCB acquisition plan was first announced.
According to the SEC, Samret, allegedly armed with this information, purchased 1.99 million baht worth of KUB tokens. Upon public announcement of the planned deal, the price of KUB subsequently rose by 101 per cent – from 49.53 baht to 99.99 baht.
The SEC ruled that Samret had violated Sections 42(1) and 43(1) of the Royal Decree on Digital Asset Businesses BE 2561 (2018) and therefore fined and suspended him from the executive post according to Sections 70 and 72 of the decree.
The SEC warned it would take the case to court if Samret refused to pay the fine.
