The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Criminal Fining Committee has imposed fines on Bitkub Online (BO) and five members of its digital asset selection committee for non-compliance with the SEC's digital asset listing rules.
According to the SEC's statement, BO also failed to take into account the conflict of interest protection measure when listing KUB Coin, its homegrown token, on the Bitkub digital exchange.
The five members of the BO selection committee comprise Nithiwat Manesin, Sukrit Puttaviriya, Piyapong Kotchana, Pongsakorn Sutantayavalee and Atakrit Chimphalapiboon. They are responsible for the selection of digital assets to be offered for trading on the digital exchange.
BO and its committee members have each been fined around 2.5 million baht for violating Section 30 of the Digital Assets Act, the SEC said. The total tally of fines is 15,201,000 baht.
The SEC committee said it would impose additional daily fines until BO can prove it has properly complied with the law.
BO listed KUB Coin on its Bitkub exchanges before the regulation was issued, and the SEC stated the criterion was not retroactive.
The SEC did not respond to requests from the Bangkok Post for clarification of this matter.
According to data from Bitkub Exchange, the price of KUB Coin dropped by 8% over the past 24 hours. It stood at 147 baht as of 4.15pm on May 6. The coin is down 70-75% from its peak of 580 baht last year.
Following the SEC's announcement, BO released a statement saying the company had carefully considered the coin's qualifications and the SEC's criteria for digital asset listing, and had taken investors' interests and risks associated with the coin into account before listing.
The company said it made sure investors and the general public studied and understood the coin before all trading activities related to it.
BO insisted it made every effort to comply with the listing process as prescribed by the SEC, such as having discussions with the relevant departments and requesting the coin's profile listing ID.
The company said it followed the principles and procedures approved by the SEC, regularly monitored the progress of all projects related to digital assets on the exchange, and informed investors through the company's channels when changes were made.