The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) banned several prominent cryptocurrency exchanges on May 29, including Bybit and OKX.
From June 28, Bybit, OKX, 100X, CoinEx, and XT.com websites and apps will not be accessible for crypto investors in Thailand. The Thai SEC has also filed charges against these companies after violating the Digital Asset Business Act.
The SEC’s investigation found that the five crypto exchanges provided digital assets without permission from the regulator, falling under the Economic Crime Suppression Division’s oversight of unauthorised digital asset businesses.
The Thai financial regulator moved to support the block of these crypto exchanges in a bid to prevent potential illicit activities, such as money laundering, and protect consumers from handling illegal digital assets.
“The SEC would like to remind the public and investors to be cautious of using services with unauthorised digital asset business operators,” said an SEC statement.
“This is because it will not be protected by law. There is also a risk of being scammed, including the risk of becoming a route through the money of the perpetrators who want to launder money.”
Investors have been urged by the Thai SEC to withdraw funds from the five crypto exchanges before the ban takes effect on June 28.
Bybit & OKX ramifications
With Bybit (second) and OKX (sixth) being two of the top ten crypto exchanges in the world by volume, the loss of access to the Thai market may hamper or re-evaluate both companies’ strategies in the country.
For Bybit, it issued a recent research report on May 23 acknowledging Thailand as second (17.6%) when it comes to crypto ownership within Southeast Asia. The country trails behind Singapore (24.4%), but is ahead of Vietnam (17.4%) and Malaysia (14.3%).
The loss of this 17.6% market may ultimately see Bybit lose out on customers to the likes of licensed SEC operators such as Orbix and Bitkub.
OKX became the subject of the country’s SEC investigation in March 2025 and filed a criminal complaint against Aux Cayes Fintech, the provider of OKX in Thailand. Within the SEC’s similar complaints that resulted in OKX’s ban, the regulator also found that OKX was promoted across social media channels without a license.
In response to the regulatory action, OKX issued a statement to Block outlining its stance on maintaining the “highest standards of regulatory compliance” and is in conversations with regulators to prevent illicit activities.
The OKX statement said: “We want to reaffirm that OKX is strongly committed to maintaining the highest standards of regulatory compliance and to fostering a safe, transparent, and responsible trading environment.
“We respect the legal frameworks of applicable jurisdictions and work proactively with regulators around the world. As a firm, we are fully committed to engaging with governments and law enforcement agencies to prevent illicit activities such as money laundering.”
Thailand’s regulatory framework
Implemented in 2018, the Digital Asset Business Act is the overarching law that regulates the digital asset sector in Thailand.
It is mandatory that digital asset businesses, as defined by the regulation, operate within Thailand with a license, which is issued by the Ministry of Finance upon the recommendation of the SEC. This includes digital asset exchanges, brokers, dealers, fund managers, advisory service providers, and custodial wallet providers.
The regulation enforcement by the SEC was due to Thailand being one of the leading countries when it comes to crypto adoption and ownership.
In May 2025, the Thailand government took a more lenient stance on its regulatory framework and encouraged tourists to make payments with their preferred cryptocurrencies on credit card-linked terminals.
