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SEC files criminal complaint against three offenders related to the Website: Bybit.com for operating digital asset exchange business without license



Friday 22 December 2023 | No. 257 / 2023


Bangkok, 22 December 2023 – The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a criminal complaint against Bybit Fintech Limited (Bybit), Mr. Arrom Pohundratanakul, and Mr. Natach Klungpremjit with the Economic Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police (ECD) for an offense regarding an action of Bybit, which was deemed an unlicensed operation of the digital asset exchange business pursuant to the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses Act B.E. 2561 (2018).

The SEC has been notified of a clue for investigation and found that since 25 January 2022 Bybit as a website service provider, namely Bybit.com (https://www.bybit.com), has rendered a service for arranging a trading system to facilitate digital asset trading with a fee collected at the rate of 0.1 percent of the customer’s trading value, had solicitation and advertisement in the Thai language to solicit a use of Bybit’s service via Website: Bybit, Facebook Page named “Bybit Thai”, Telegram named “Bybit ประกาศภาษาไทย” (meaning “Bybit Notification in Thai” in Thai) and Instagram named “bybitthailand”. Additionally, there is a fact that Bybit received an assistance and support from public relations and marketing activities promoted by Mr. Arrom and Mr. Natach via their social media, namely Facebook Page, Youtube named “ไม่มี Moon หมาไม่ซื้อ” (meaning “No Sign, No buy” in Thai), and Line Open Chat named “Stop Loss Club”, which enabled Bybit to be well known and attracted more persons to use Bybit’s service.

The actions of Bybit are deemed to be an operation of the digital asset exchange business without license pursuant to Section 3 of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses whereby Bybit has operated without any license and is considered a violation of Section 26, resulting in an offense liable to the penalties under Section 66 of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses. The actions of Mr. Pohundratanakul and Mr. Klungpremjit are deemed support to the offense committed by Bybit regarding operating a digital asset exchange business without license which is a violation of Section 26, a legal offense liable to the penalties under Section 66 of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses in conjunction with Section 86 of the Criminal Code.

The SEC has, therefore, filed the criminal complaint against Bybit, Mr. Pohundratanakul and Mr. Klungpremjit with the ECD for further legal action.

In any case, filing a criminal complaint is merely the commencement of the criminal justice proceedings. The process of determining whether a person has committed a legal offense involves the investigative powers of the inquiry officer, the decision to prosecute by public prosecutors, and ultimately the judicial discretion of the court in rendering a verdict. In this regard, the SEC will monitor the progress of the ongoing legal proceedings and fully cooperate with relevant authorities in subsequent processes after the filing of the criminal complaint to support law enforcement under the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses.  

The public and investors are advised to take precaution regarding the use of services of unlicensed digital asset business operators since no legal protection is provided and there is a risk of exposure to scams and money laundering. To check the list of licensed business operators, please visit: www.sec.or.th or use the SEC Check First application. The SEC also publishes the list of unlicensed business operators on the Investor Alert at: https://market.sec.or.th/public/idisc/th/InvestorAlert.

If there is any clue pertaining to suspicious activities, please contact the “SEC Complaint Center” via Hotline 1207 or the SEC official Facebook page : “สำนักงาน ก.ล.ต.” or SEC Live Chat on the SEC website for further in-depth investigation.

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