Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday that it has filed a criminal complaint against BG Limited, the provider of the Bitget platform, and one individual, and notified the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to block access to the exchange's website, related domains and mobile app from December 5, according to the SEC's statement . The complaint went to the Economic Crime Suppression Division, which will investigate, with prosecutors deciding whether to bring charges and a court deciding the case. A Bitget spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the exchange is reviewing the announcement and evaluating its options for engaging with the regulator.
The action lands while Bitget waits for the same regulator to approve its purchase of a licensed Thai exchange, a deal that has already missed its first closing date.
The SEC says that in 2022 to 2025 Bitget provided a digital asset trading system and charged fees, and offered a Thai-language website with the option to display equivalent values in baht. It says Bitget also solicited users and promoted its services in Thai through its website and social media accounts, including "Bitget Thailand" on X, "BGB Thai Holder" on Telegram and "bitgetthailand" on TikTok. The SEC argues this amounted to operating a digital asset exchange business under Section 3 of the 2018 Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses without a licence, which violates Section 26 and is punishable under Section 66.
The complaint also names Kritsana Kritsananuwat, whom the SEC accuses of helping publicize Bitget's services and promotions through the Facebook page "Srisiam" and the YouTube channel "SRISIAM," an offence under the same sections read with Section 86 of the Criminal Code. He was also among the nine supporters named in the SEC's March 2025 complaint against OKX's operator . A criminal complaint does not establish liability. The SEC says the case now goes through an inquiry official, a public prosecutor and a court. It urged Bitget users to consider acting on their assets before the block, and warned that users of unlicensed operators are not protected under the law and may face fraud and money laundering risks.
The block rests on a separate legal basis: the 2025 Royal Decree on Measures for Preventing and Suppressing Technology Related Crimes (No. 2), which authorizes the ministry to order access blocked to unlicensed digital asset trading platforms. It took effect on April 13, 2025, together with an amendment extending the digital asset law to foreign platforms, according to the SEC's announcement at the time .
Bitget announced on October 20 that it would buy GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand), the licensed operator of the Z.com EX exchange, through BTGT Management (Thailand), a company in which it said it holds an interest.
GMO's September 24 filing covered 7,349,446 shares, a combined 99.94% held by GMO and its Thai holding company, and said the buyer was set up on September 22 with THB 2 million of capital, owned 51% and 49% by two holding companies. The filing withheld the price at the buyer's request, and Bitget has not disclosed the size of its stake.
GMO first expected the shares to change hands on October 31. In an October 30 update, it moved the transfer to November 30, saying it needed more time for applications, approvals and other steps in Thailand. That date falls five days before the block starts. The sale cannot close until the SEC approves the change of control, and GMO's filing said BTGT's major shareholders would follow the SEC's rules on approving major shareholders. The SEC's statement on Bitget does not mention the GMO deal, and neither company has said when the regulator is expected to rule.
Bitget had already listed Thailand among the jurisdictions where its international platform is prohibited, in terms of use updated in October, Finance Magnates reported . The Thai unit has not been profitable: it posted a net loss of THB 87.6 million in 2025 on revenue of about THB 11 million, according to GMO's filing as reported by FinanceFeeds .
Bitget separately reported unauthorized transfers from some hot and warm wallets on September 24, the day GMO's board approved the sale. It first put the loss at about $351.6 million, Bloomberg reported , then raised the estimate to about $387.5 million the next day. Bitget said the loss fell within its User Protection Fund, which it said held more than $464 million at the time.
The SEC has been consistent about treating conduct as grounds for action. On July 23 it filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub and two former directors, which Blockhead covered in a July 24 report , arguing that concealing a May 2021 hack from regulators in its daily capital reports was itself the violation. It took the same two steps against OKX in 2025, filing a criminal complaint against the operator and nine supporters on March 21 and announcing on May 29 that Bybit, 1000X, CoinEx, OKX and XT would be blocked from June 28.
The policy also has an economic side. Blockhead noted in August that Thailand's five-year zero-tax regime for crypto gains pays out only on licensed platforms , which pushes Thai trading toward venues the state can supervise. Bitget's deal for GMO's licence is an attempt to move from one side of that line to the other.
Two dates now sit against each other: the planned November 30 share transfer and the December 5 block. The SEC has not said how the complaint affects its review of the change of control. Whether the SEC approves a vehicle linked to a group it has filed a complaint against is now the main question for the deal.
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