As per the recent reports from Thai sources, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) of Thailand has taken legal action against a defunct crypto-exchange. As per sources, the Thai SEC has filed a case against Bitcoin Company Ltd that was the operator of BX (BX.in.th).
The BX.in.th (BX) is now defunct but formerly was known as one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand. In addition to being the largest, BX also has the title of being the first-ever cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand.
It was announced by the cryptocurrency exchange back in 2019 that it was decommissioning its operations as an exchange in Thailand. However, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has taken legal action against the defunct exchange after almost 1.5 years.
In the lawsuit, the Thai SEC has alleged the exchange of carrying out illegal and unauthorized activities with the users’ assets. It stated that BX transferred the crypto-assets of its customers to wallets which were not authorized/permitted to hold crypto-tokens.
When shutting its operations down in September 2019, the firm notified SEC that it was not planning to renew its operating license for the next year.
When announcing the shutdown of its operations, the firm announced that it will first shut down the depositing service. Then the next service it will shutdown would be the trading functions. In the end, the firm announced that it will shut down the withdrawal service.
However, the firm announced that the users will be able to withdraw their holdings and assets until November 1, 2019.
When the exchange made the announcement, the entire user community at BX wanted to know the reason for its closure. However, the exchange did not give any particular reason as to why it was closing down its exchange even when it was going really well in the country.
The only statement the exchange released was that the Bitcoin Company Limited needed to exert its focus and resources in other business opportunities.
As per the Bangkok Post, it was later revealed that the exchange stopped all contacts with its customers right after the announcement. Furthermore, the firm never let any of the customers withdraw their holdings and to this day, there are many users who have not received their holdings.
Despite making several attempts to get a hold of someone at the firm, there are no signs of support or cooperation. It was also revealed that all the employees working for the exchange were laid off as well.
Based on these facts, Thai regulatory authorities have filed a lawsuit against the exchange to bring the perpetrators to the front. With this move, the SEC authorities aim to trigger the criminal law enforcement process that will help SEC find the real mastermind behind all this.