Siam Commercial Bank buys 51% stake in Bitkub crypto exchange

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Thailand’s oldest bank plans to become the majority shareholder of one of the country’s largest crypto exchanges after a purchase of $ 536.7 million.

According to an announcement on Tuesday, Siam Commercial Bank’s SCB X group is expected to buy a 51% stake in Thailand-based crypto exchange Bitkub for 17.85 billion baht (about $ 536.7 million) by now. the second quarter of 2022. The exchange said the deal is subject to approval by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and the country’s central bank.

Arthit Nanthawittaya, CEO of Siam Commercial Bank, said the acquisition was based on the growth of the digital asset companies over the past two years and expected long-term value. The company has hinted that it aims to strengthen and grow the digital asset ecosystem in Thailand.

“Bitkub has reached the point where we have become an important structure in Thailand’s future economy,” said Jirayut Srupsrisopa, Founder and CEO of Bitkub. “Bitkub is no longer just a startup. It is becoming a necessary infrastructure for the financial industry 3.0 in Thailand.

Bitkub is one of the few crypto exchanges in Thailand to operate with the approval of the country’s SEC. After issuing revised crypto regulations in November 2020, the financial regulator ordered the exchange to suspend services and address outage issues during times of high demand. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the exchange recorded a trading volume of over $ 274 million in the past 24 hours.

Related: Upbit Launches In Thailand Just Days After Regulators Suspended Bitkub

Thai regulators have issued a number of guidelines for individual crypto traders and companies. In June, SEC officials issued a notice banning Thai exchanges from handling memes-based tokens, fan-based tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and tokens issued by exchanges. The regulator also proposed in August a set of guidelines for the safekeeping of investors’ cryptocurrency holdings held by commercial operators of digital assets.

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