Thailand: Bitget faces a 5 December block after the SEC files a criminal complaint

On 5 November 2026, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a criminal complaint against BG Limited, the company that operates the Bitget crypto exchange, and said access to the platform will be blocked in Thailand from 5 December 2026. The complaint alleges Bitget ran a digital asset exchange in Thailand without a licence. A filed complaint is an allegation, not a verdict, and prosecutors have yet to decide whether to bring charges.

What happened

The SEC's announcement, Press Release No. 241/2026, says its investigation found that between 2022 and 2025 Bitget provided a digital asset trading system, charged fees, and offered a Thai-language website that could display values in Thai baht. It also promoted its services in Thai through the Bitget website and social media, including an X account called "Bitget Thailand", a Telegram group called "BGB Thai Holder" and a TikTok account called "bitgetthailand".

The regulator says that amounts to operating a digital asset exchange under Section 3 of Thailand's Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses of 2018, and that doing so without a licence breaches Section 26, an offence punishable under Section 66. The complaint was filed with the Economic Crime Suppression Division, which investigates first; prosecutors then decide whether to bring charges, and a court would decide whether the law was broken.

The complaint also names Kritsana Kritsananuwat, who the SEC says helped publicise Bitget through the Facebook page "Srisiam" and the YouTube channel "SRISIAM". The regulator says that help counts as assisting an unlicensed exchange business, under Section 26 together with Section 86 of the Criminal Code.

Alongside the complaint, the SEC sent Bitget's website, other domains and mobile app details to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, asking it to block access from 5 December 2026. The block runs under the Royal Decree on Measures for Preventing and Suppressing Technology Related Crimes (No. 2) of 2025, which lets the ministry cut off unlicensed digital asset platforms, so from that date people in Thailand will be unable to reach Bitget through the blocked channels.

What users were told

The SEC alerted people using Bitget to consider taking action over assets held on the platform before the blocking date, to protect their interests and avoid the effects of losing access. The announcement sets out no automatic transfer of funds and no account closure procedure, and it does not say customers must sell their holdings.

The regulator also warned that people using unlicensed operators are not protected under the law and may face fraud, scams and money laundering risks, and pointed investors to its website and its SEC Check First app to verify whether a provider holds a licence.

This is not the first block

Thailand blocked access to five unauthorised trading platforms on 28 June 2025, including Bybit, OKX and CoinEx, under the same framework. The Bitget action follows that pattern: a criminal complaint first, then a dated access block, with users told to sort out their assets before the cutoff.

Bitget has a separate track running in Thailand. On 20 October 2026 it announced plans to buy GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand), the operator of the locally licensed Z.com EX platform, through BTGT Management. The seller had first scheduled the share transfer for 31 October, and the deal still needs regulatory approval and other conditions, while the SEC's 5 November notice announces no decision on that purchase. Bitget has said it will launch a locally operated platform only after the purchase completes and change-of-control approval comes through, and it had not commented publicly on the complaint or the block when the story was reported.

What it means in general terms

For people in Thailand with assets on Bitget, the practical date is 5 December 2026. After that, the website, domains and app are blocked in the country, and the SEC's own advice is to deal with holdings before then, because no transfer mechanism is promised in the announcement. The complaint itself will take longer to resolve: investigation, then a prosecution decision, then a court process, and the accused are presumed innocent until a final judgment.

Thailand has now used an access block twice since June against platforms it says operate without a licence, and the SEC's message to users is the same in both cases: check whether a provider is licensed, and do not assume an unlicensed platform carries the same protections as a licensed one.