The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined an executive member of Bitkub Blockchain Technology Co (BBT) 8.53 million baht for insider trading.
The commission said on Tuesday evening that Samret Wajanasathian, chief technology officer of BBT, had progressivey bought 61,107.66 Bitkub coins (KUB) worth 1.99 million baht between Sept 4 and Nov 2 last year.
The purchases occured while Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and Bitkub Capital Group Holding (BCGH) were discussing SCB's planned acquisition of a 51% stake for 17.85 billion baht in Bitkub Online Co (BO). Discussions began in August last year.
Mr Samret's KUB coin purchasing behaviour before the acquisition plan was publicly announced at 6.53pm on Nov 2 was noticeably different than it had previously been.
On Nov 2 last year the price of KUB peaked at 99.99 baht, doubling from 49.53 baht - the last price before announcement of the acquisition plan.
BBT was in Bitkub group and had connections and inside information, SEC said.
Apart from the fine, SEC also prohibited Mr Samret from being an executive of any digital token seller or digital asset operator for 12 months.
