Thailand is regarded as one of Asia's most forward-thinking nations in the cryptocurrency field because of tax incentives for dealers and a regulated market for cryptocurrency exchanges. Nevertheless, a lot of cryptocurrency exchanges, like Binance and Huobi, have had issues in the past with governmental limitations and rules in the nation.
(Photo : ROSLAN RAHMAN / Getty Images)
Thailand's Oldest Bank Is Unable To Acquire the Largest Local Cryptocurrency Exchange in the Nation
Through its brokerage subsidiary SCB Securities, the financial group first announced its intention to invest in Bitkub in November as part of a plan to establish itself as a regional fintech.
By the second quarter of 2022, SCB X Group, a division of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), intended to acquire a 51% stake in Bitkub in order to establish itself as a regional fintech. The bank has delayed purchasing the popular exchange, so things now seem to have altered, indefinitely, as per Cointelegraph.
SCB X has chosen indefinitely not to proceed with a $487 million offer for a 51% share in Bitkub, Thailand's main cryptocurrency exchange platform, as cryptocurrency trading continues to be constrained by law.
A unicorn in a nation that was formerly thought to be devoid of startups, Bitkub was valued at 35 billion baht ($1.05 billion), and the deal was anticipated to be finalized by the first quarter of 2022.
"We have made it clear in our statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand that the deal is still undergoing due diligence," said an anonymous senior official at the SCB X. "We don't know when the deal will be sealed."
A senior official of SCB X told the outlet that the team doesn't know when the purchase would be finalized. On Thursday, Nikkei Asia reported that SCB X, the parent company of SCB, informed the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) that the acquisition is "still undergoing due diligence."
Thailand's Stricter Crypto Regulations
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Thailand recently issued tougher cryptocurrency legislation and usage limits to ensure that cryptocurrencies can only be exchanged as assets on authorized platforms.
The news broke as cryptocurrency prices fell across the board, further dampening investor confidence and destroying Bitkub's hopes of growing its customer base.
On July 2, the SEC penalized Bitkub Capital Group Holdings chairman Sakolkorn Sakavee for fabricating trade volume numbers. He received a penalty worth $216,000 (8 million baht) and a 12-month supervisory employment suspension from the company.
In April, Bitkub teamed up with a local Vietnamese tech startup to develop Kubtech as a private blockchain operator with the intention of quickly evolving into a trading platform for cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
Investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by Vietnamese internet users has been documented for ten years, despite the fact that Vietnam's central bank also outlawed using them as a form of payment in 2017.
Related Article: CoinPayments is Shutting Down in the US: You Have 5 Days Left to Withdraw Your Crypto
