Thailand's SEC Files Criminal Complaint Against Bitget and Orders Access Block From 5 December

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 5 November 2026 filed a criminal complaint against BG Limited, the operator of the Bitget digital-asset trading platform at bitget.com, for carrying on a digital-asset exchange business without a licence. The same complaint names one individual promoter. In the same release (No. 241/2569), the SEC said it has asked the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to block access to Bitget's website, other Bitget domains and its application from 5 December 2026.

The action rests on the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018). The SEC says Bitget's conduct falls within the decree's definition of a digital-asset exchange and that operating without a licence breaches section 26, with criminal liability under section 66. Investors who still hold assets on the platform are told to deal with those assets before the access block takes effect.

What the SEC Says Bitget Did

According to the SEC's investigation summary, between 2022 and 2025 Bitget provided a system for buying, selling and exchanging digital assets in the ordinary course of business and charged fees. The platform offered Thai-language pages, showed values in Thai baht, and promoted the service to Thai users through Thai-language channels, including its own website and social accounts identified as Bitget Thailand on X (formerly Twitter), BGB Thai Holder on Telegram and bitgetthailand on TikTok.

Under section 3 of the Emergency Decree, that pattern of activity is treated as operating a digital-asset exchange. Section 26 requires a licence for that business. The SEC concludes that Bitget operated without one and therefore faces the criminal penalties in section 66. Bitget does not appear under that name on the SEC's public list of licensed digital-asset business operators, which is consistent with the complaint's premise that the platform was not authorised in Thailand.

The complaint also covers Mr Krisana Krisananuwat (กฤษณะ กฤษณานุวัตร์). The SEC says he helped promote Bitget's services and sales campaigns through a Facebook page named Srisiam and a YouTube channel named SRISIAM, increasing awareness of the platform among Thai users. The SEC treats that assistance as aiding an unlicensed digital-asset exchange, relying on section 26 and section 66 of the decree together with section 86 of the Penal Code.

Criminal Process and the 5 December Access Block

The SEC filed the complaint with the Economic Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police. The release stresses that the filing is only the start of the criminal process. Investigators will examine the case, public prosecutors will decide whether to prosecute, and the courts will decide liability. The SEC says it will follow the case and cooperate with other agencies after the complaint.

Separately, the SEC has sent details of Bitget's website, other domains and application to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. The legal basis cited for the block is the Emergency Decree on Measures to Prevent and Suppress Technology Crimes (No. 2) B.E. 2568 (2025), which empowers that ministry to cut off access to unlicensed digital-asset trading platforms. The SEC states that the public will not be able to reach the platform from 5 December 2026. The purpose described in the release is investor protection and stopping unlicensed platforms from being used as a channel for money laundering.

The SEC expressly warns Bitget users to take steps with their assets on the platform before that date, so they are not locked out when the block lands. It also repeats a general warning that customers of unlicensed digital-asset businesses do not receive the legal protections that apply to licensed firms and face scam and money-laundering risks. The public can check licensed operators on the SEC website and the SEC Check First app, and can check non-regulated names on the Investor Alert list.

Who Is Affected and What Comes Next

The immediate practical effect falls on Thai users of Bitget and on BG Limited as the named operator. Anyone who can still withdraw or transfer assets from Bitget accounts used from Thailand has a clear calendar cut-off of 5 December 2026 for access from inside the country, assuming the ministry implements the block as the SEC has requested. Licensed Thai exchanges, brokers and other digital-asset businesses on the SEC list are not the target of this complaint; the case is about unlicensed offshore access marketed to Thai users.

What happens next on the criminal side is outside the SEC's hands once the complaint is lodged: police inquiry, prosecutorial charging decisions and, if charges proceed, court proceedings. On the access side, internet service providers in Thailand will need to implement the ministry's block; similar SEC referrals in earlier cases have taken a short period to propagate after the stated start date.

For the wider Thai market, the case is another enforcement signal under the 2018 digital-asset decree and the 2025 technology-crime blocking powers. Platforms that target Thai users with local-language marketing, baht pricing or Thai social channels without a Minister of Finance licence on the SEC's recommendation remain exposed to both criminal referral and a timed national access block. Firms that want to serve Thailand lawfully still need to appear on the SEC's licensed digital-asset business list before building that kind of local footprint.