Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a criminal complaint against BG Limited, which it describes as the provider of the Bitget platform, for running a digital asset exchange in Thailand without a licence, and has said access to Bitget in Thailand will be blocked from 5 December 2026. The regulator announced both steps on Thursday 5 November in SEC News No. 241/2026. A Thai man accused of promoting Bitget online is named in the same complaint. Thai users have 29 days to decide what to do with assets they still hold on the exchange.
A complaint is an accusation, not a verdict. Under Thai procedure, an inquiry official investigates, the public prosecutor decides whether to prosecute, and only a court can rule, the SEC itself says. Bitget and the individual named are presumed innocent, and no charging decision had been announced as of 6 November.
The timing is awkward for Bitget. On 20 October the exchange said it had agreed to buy the company behind Thailand’s licensed Z.com EX exchange, a deal that needs the approval of the same regulator. The SEC release does not mention that purchase.
What the Thai SEC alleges: four years of service in Thai and in baht
The complaint was filed with the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD), the police unit that handles financial offences. According to the SEC, Bitget ran a trading system for digital assets “in the ordinary course of business” from 2022 to 2025 and charged fees for it. Under Thai law, that is the definition of running an exchange.
The regulator lists what made the service Thai in its eyes. The Bitget website was available in Thai and could show values in Thai baht. The platform was promoted in Thai on its own site and on social accounts the SEC names one by one: “Bitget Thailand” on X, “BGB Thai Holder” on Telegram and “bitgetthailand” on TikTok.
The legal chain is short. Running a digital asset exchange is a regulated business under Section 3 of the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018). Doing it without a licence breaches Section 26. Section 66 sets the penalty. The release does not give the size of the penalty sought, the number of Thai users, or any trading volume.
That record sits uneasily with Bitget’s own paperwork. Its October user agreement already listed Thailand among the jurisdictions barred from the international platform, crypto.news reported. The SEC’s case is built on the opposite picture: a Thai-language site, baht prices and Thai marketing accounts, which is how regulators usually decide whether a foreign platform targets local residents.
A promoter is named in the same complaint
The second person in the complaint is described in the release as Mr. Kritsana Kritsananuwat. The SEC accuses him of helping the alleged offence by promoting Bitget and its sales campaigns on the Facebook page “Srisiam” and the YouTube channel “SRISIAM”, which in the regulator’s words made the platform “more widely known and increased the number of people interested”.
He faces the same Section 26 and Section 66 provisions, read together with Section 86 of the Criminal Code, which covers aiding an offence. No prosecutor has charged him, and Coindaro found no public reply from him. The release does not say whether he was paid. For Thai crypto influencers the message is that promoting an unlicensed platform can be pursued as aiding the offence itself.
How the 5 December block of Bitget in Thailand works
The block is a separate track from the criminal case. The SEC sent information on www.bitget.com, other Bitget domains and the Bitget app to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES). It did so under the Royal Decree on Measures for Preventing and Suppressing Technology Related Crimes (No. 2) B.E. 2568 (2025), in force since 13 April 2025 according to Cointelegraph, which lets the ministry order the blocking of unlicensed digital asset platforms.
According to the regulator, the aim is to protect investors and to stop fraudsters from using such platforms to launder money. Its conclusion: “the public will be unable to access the platform from 5 December 2026.” Coindaro did not find a published MDES order on Bitget as of 6 November; the date comes from the SEC release.
Some gaps in the release matter to users. It does not say funds will be frozen, and it does not order anyone to sell. Nor does it say whether assets left on the platform after 5 December could still be withdrawn by some other route. The block, as described, is about access.
Bybit and OKX in 2025, Bitazza in 2026: Thailand has run this script before
Bitget is the largest exchange to face this procedure since Bybit and OKX in May 2025. On 29 May 2025 the SEC announced that five unlicensed exchanges, Bybit, 1000X, CoinEx, OKX and XT.COM, would be blocked, with the block scheduled for 28 June 2025, according to Cointelegraph. Bybit said at the time it was “proactively engaging with relevant regulators to seek further clarity”, and OKX that it was “strongly committed to maintaining the highest standards of regulatory compliance”. Coindaro did not find a source confirming that the 28 June block was carried out, only that it was scheduled.
In 2026 the regulator has paired criminal complaints with blocks that follow about a month later. On 20 February it filed a complaint against Bitazza International Ltd (Bitazza Global), Bitazza Co. Ltd and executives for jointly running an unlicensed exchange; an MDES block took effect on 22 March 2026, according to Digital Policy Alert. A note by law firm Tilleke & Gibbins on the 20 February complaint, which does not name the firms, describes a licensed local broker whose website and app gave Thai users access to its overseas platform since 2023.
On 1 September the SEC filed a complaint over the Holdstation and UNO apps, according to Digital Policy Alert, and access to both was due to be blocked from 1 October, Coinfomania reported. A reminder on the SEC’s own site tells users of the VCEX platform to act on their assets before its block on Saturday 7 November 2026.
| Platform | SEC step | Block date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bybit, 1000X, CoinEx, OKX, XT.COM | Announcement, 29 May 2025 | 28 June 2025 (scheduled) | Cointelegraph |
| Bitazza Global and Bitazza Co. Ltd | Criminal complaint, 20 Feb 2026 | 22 March 2026 | Digital Policy Alert |
| Holdstation and UNO apps | Criminal complaint, 1 Sep 2026 | 1 October 2026 | Digital Policy Alert, Coinfomania |
| VCEX | Block reminder to users | 7 November 2026 | SEC reminder notice |
| Bitget (BG Limited) | Criminal complaint, 5 Nov 2026 | 5 December 2026 | SEC News No. 241/2026 |
The Bitazza case matters for Bitget. If the law firm’s description is a guide, a licensed Thai sister company did not protect the overseas platform from a complaint and a block.
The Z.com EX purchase: what is known, what is not
Bitget’s plan, told in our 20 October report, is to buy GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand), the operator of the licensed Z.com EX exchange, through BTGT Management (Thailand) Ltd, a company in which Bitget holds an undisclosed interest. GMO Internet’s disclosure of 24 September covers all 7,349,446 shares, with the transfer “expected on October 31, 2026” and the price withheld at the buyer’s request.
The change of control needs Thai regulatory approval. As of 6 November, Coindaro found no announcement that the share transfer had taken place, been postponed or been approved. Reports published on 5 November still described the deal as planned and subject to approval. The business Bitget would take over is small and loss-making: GMO’s filing shows net sales of THB 11 million and a net loss of THB 87.6 million for 2025. GMO had announced on 18 March 2026 that it would withdraw from the Thai digital asset business.
The regulator that must rule on Bitget’s entry into the licensed market is, in the same month, accusing Bitget of having served Thais without a licence for four years. Whether it would approve a change of control in favour of a group it has just filed a complaint against is an open question. No official has addressed it.
What Bitget says
Bitget had published no statement on its own site that Coindaro could find. A spokesperson told crypto.news on 5 November that the company’s teams were reviewing the announcement and “evaluating our options to engage with the SEC”, and that “User assets remain safe.” The spokesperson added that Bitget would give guidance on changes to access. Other outlets that covered the complaint reported no Bitget comment.
This is the second difficult stretch for the exchange in six weeks. On 24 September attackers moved about $388 million out of its hot and warm wallets, a loss Bitget says its User Protection Fund covered, as told in our coverage of the Bitget hack and the restart of withdrawals. The SEC release does not link the two matters. In a separate move, Bitget gave Russian and Belarusian users until 21 October to close positions and withdraw.
What Thai users must do before 5 December
The SEC’s advice is short. Users should “consider taking action regarding their assets held on the platform before the scheduled access blocking date.” The regulator adds that clients of unlicensed operators “will not be protected under the law” and run risks of fraud, scams and money laundering.
Beyond that, the following is general Coindaro guidance, not an SEC instruction:
- Check that the destination is legitimate first: the SEC lists licensed operators on sec.or.th and in its SEC Check First app, and keeps an investor alert list of unlicensed ones. The SEC hotline is 1207.
- Moving coins to a wallet you control is the other route; our explainer on self-custody covers what that involves, including keeping your recovery phrase offline.
- Do not wait for the last days, since withdrawal queues and identity checks can slow things down when many users move at once.
- Keep records of balances, trades and withdrawals for tax purposes.
Whether Thai residents could still reach their accounts after 5 December through a VPN or other means is unknown, and Coindaro does not advise getting around a regulator’s block. Bitget had published no specific guidance for Thai users as of 6 November.
Why it matters outside Thailand
The complaint covers Thailand only. Bitget serves users in many other regions and has applied for a MiCA licence in Austria, as our October report noted. The legal idea behind the Thai case is common, though: a platform that markets to a country’s residents in their language needs that country’s authorisation. In the European Union, MiCA rules apply the same logic, and Italy’s Consob can order the blocking of websites offering unauthorised financial services. Coindaro found no French or Italian action against Bitget.
Thailand is also defining crypto in its courts. Its Supreme Court ruled in late October that bitcoin is property that can be robbed, as we reported on 28 October.
Next dates and open questions
- 5 December 2026: access to Bitget’s website, domains and app is due to be blocked in Thailand, according to the SEC.
- Whether MDES publishes its own blocking order, and whether Bitget issues instructions for Thai users before that date.
- The ECD investigation, then the prosecutor’s decision on whether to charge BG Limited and the named promoter; no timetable has been given.
- The fate of the Z.com EX change of control, which was due to close on 31 October and has not been reported as completed.
The SEC said it would monitor the proceedings and cooperate fully with the agencies involved. The next fixed date is the block itself, on Saturday 5 December.