The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might consider revoking the business licence of Zipmex if the digital asset exchange operator cannot fix its liquidity problem within 15 days, as its capital fund is already below the regulator's requirement.
The SEC's board has instructed Zipmex to revise its operations as the company is unable to maintain its capital fund as required by law, and has an inappropriate management structure that could potentially cause damages to customers.
Zipmex is required to send a report to the SEC office within 15 days regarding the progress it has made in relation to the liquidity issue to be in accordance with the Digital Asset Business Operations Act 2018.
On Nov 25, 2023, the SEC ordered Zipmex to correct its financial position to meet the capital fund criteria. On Dec 8, the company informed the regulator it was unable to maintain its capital fund as required.
The SEC board meeting on Jan 11 resolved that Zipmex must amend its operations where it could not have efficiently managed the business, partly because of inadequate personnel. The process has to be completed within 15 days.
The latest order requires Zipmex to have a capital fund that meets the specified regulations and adjust its management structure and qualified personnel to be able to conduct business efficiently.
The company must also have a system in place to prevent customers' deposited assets from being used, or profited upon by any means. It has to create separate accounts for each customer with the correct, complete and current information in case they have to return the asset to the customer.
SEC deputy secretary-general Anek Yooyuen said if a digital asset business operator is unable to comply with Section 35 of the Digital Asset Business Act 2018, it may lead to the process of revoking the licence.
The SEC places importance on monitoring business operators by tracking and reporting information about customers' assets daily to ensure the operators have complied with the specified criteria, he added.
The SEC yesterday also ordered More Return (MORE) to clarify information by Jan 17 that the company is scheduling a shareholder meeting on Friday to approve the increase in the company's registered capital and disclose such information through the system of the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
According to the regulator, MORE is planning to hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Jan 19 to consider whether to approve raising the company's registered capital by about 1.07 billion baht from the current level of 359 million baht.
Under the plan, MORE would issue 21,530,245,323 new common shares at a par value of 0.05 baht each to raise registered capital to 1.43 billion baht.
The new shares will be offered to existing shareholders (rights offering) by an amount not exceeding 14,353,496,882 shares, and to support the exercise of warrant rights to purchase 7,176,748,441 ordinary shares.
The SEC has received complaints from investors regarding the shareholders' meeting, especially the impact on existing shareholders due to the issuance of capital increase shares and the unclear purpose of the increase.