Thailand’s oldest bank Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) announced that it is abandoning a $500 million deal to acquire cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub.
According to a press release, SCB said that it was pulling out of a $500 million deal to buy a controlling stake in crypto exchange Bitkub, citing unresolved regulatory issues on the part of the crypto exchange. The cancellation comes only a month after the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Bitkub to review its listing process of KUB coin on its exchange. SCB had planned to acquire the controlling share of the exchange as part of building its digital strategy. The deal was initially announced in November 2021 and was expected to be completed in the first quarter of this year, pending regulatory approval. A statement from Bitkub said it did not find any indication of irregularities that cannot be rectified.
The press release said:
Bitkub is currently in the process of resolving various issues as per the recommendations and orders of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand, which are uncertain in terms of time frame in resolving those issues.
It added:
As a result, the buyer and the seller have agreed to terminate the transaction.
SBC noted that they are conducting due diligence on the company and have not found any abnormal issues. Bitkub said in a statement that it agreed to terminate the sale so that it could resolve pending issues with regulators and added that its operations have not been affected by the termination.
The bank has said that it was “committed to strategic plans to expand into businesses relating to blockchain technology and digital assets, which play an important role in Thailand’s economy and financial industry.”
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