Siam Commercial Bank Scraps $500M Acquisition Deal of Crypto Exchange Bitkub

Thailand’s oldest lender, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has abandoned the deal to acquire a controlling stake in Bitkub Online, the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the bank cited unresolved regulatory issues on the part of the crypto exchanges behind its move.

“Bitkub is currently in the process of resolving various issues as per the recommendations and orders of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are uncertain in terms of time frame in resolving those,” the bank’s statement noted.

“As a result, the buyer and the seller have agreed to terminate the transaction.”

Termination of a Major Crypto Deal

SCB inked a deal with Bitkub last November to purchase a 51 percent stake in the crypto exchange for 17.85 billion baht ($500 million). The transaction was supposed to be completed by the first quarter of 2022, but faced unexpected delays and now termination of the deal.

The Thai lender also confirmed that it conducted due diligence on the crypto company, but did not find any major problems.

“[The due diligence] process did not find any indication of significant irregularities that cannot be rectified,” a statement by Bitkub stated.

However, the termination of the deal came months after the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) slapped a fine on the crypto exchange for violating listing rules by adding the KUB coin, which is its native token.

Additionally, Bitkub and its two officials faced a monetary penalty of 24 million baht for a trading manipulation that happened in 2019. Further, the regulator issued a notice against the platform last year for improving services.

“Bitkub Online’s business operations are not affected in any way and the company remains the country’s leading digital asset and cryptocurrency exchange platform with resources for executing its plans and strategies,” Bitkub’s statement added.

Meanwhile, Bitkub is facing the impact of the decline in cryptocurrency prices. A recent local regulatory report revealed that the number of Thai cryptocurrency accounts dropped by 67 percent since the beginning of 2022.