How a crypto exchange secretly hid $53M in stolen crypto to prevent a bank run – as the SEC targets its directors

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub Online and two former directors, alleging that the crypto exchange submitted daily net-capital reports, known as Form DA 1, that failed to show the effect of a 2021 theft involving about 1.7 billion baht (roughly $53 million) in customer assets.

The July 23, 2026, complaint to Thailand’s Economic Crime Suppression Division names Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, who the SEC said were responsible for the reports when they were Bitkub directors. The regulator alleges that Bitkub gave false statements and that the two former directors made false entries in company documents.

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According to the SEC, a May 2021 cyberattack caused customer assets across 16 cryptocurrencies to be withdrawn from the exchange. Bitkub’s Form DA 1 reports from May 10 through Oct. 30, 2021, showed no material change in its asset balance from the theft, conduct the regulator said amounted to false reporting.

The SEC said subsequent information indicated that Bitkub began procuring replacement digital assets on Oct. 31, 2021. The regulator did not say when that replacement process was completed.

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Bitkub says it feared a bank run

In its response to the complaint, Bitkub acknowledged that personnel responsible for company disclosures chose not to reveal that assets from one company wallet had been stolen. The company said the decision was intended to prevent a bank run while Bitkub was trying to replace the assets. It disputed that the accused individuals had acted fraudulently.

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Bitkub said its co-founders absorbed the loss by buying the same currencies in the same quantities. It claimed that neither the company nor its customers suffered asset losses from the incident.

In a separate September 2025 update, the SEC said customer digital assets held by Bitkub were safe and complete as of Sept. 8, 2025. That finding covered a later point in time and did not settle the regulator’s allegation about what Bitkub reported in 2021.

Asset replacement and regulatory reporting remain separate questions in the complaint. Bitkub says the nondisclosure was intended to avert a bank run; the SEC alleges that the daily reports failed to show a material change in the exchange’s assets before replacement began.

An inquiry official will now investigate and decide whether to recommend prosecution, according to the SEC’s criminal-action process. A public prosecutor would then consider the file, and a court would adjudicate the allegations only if the case is brought. The allegations remain unadjudicated.

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