Thai SEC wants to revoke Zipmex license

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The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed to revoke the digital asset business license of the Singaporean exchange Zipmex.

In its meeting last week, the SEC board passed a resolution to propose that the Thai finance minister revoke Zipmex’s license over its failure to maintain net capital in compliance with Thai laws. The exchange also had “inappropriate and insufficient management structure and personnel,” added the SEC.

Until the finance minister revokes its license, Zipmex remains a registered Thai business and must comply with all the relevant regulations, the regulator says.

“However, even after the effective revocation of its license, Zipmex retains its status as a limited company with corresponding rights, responsibilities, and liabilities, including the possibility of being subject to legal action,” the SEC noted.

The agency further ordered Zipmex to refund its clients throughout the time it will be in operation. If any of its clients fail to claim their assets before the deadline, the watchdog ordered the exchange to deposit these assets in a “trusted and secure system within 30 days from the deadline.”

On February 1, the SEC ordered Zipmex to suspend its operations in the Southeast Asian country due to “financial position and operational deficiencies.” It gave the exchange two weeks to remedy the situation, pledging to allow Zipmex to resume operations if its conditions were met.

However, according to the latest SEC notice, the exchange failed to meet the requirements.

A week after the suspension of services, the SEC charged former Zipmex CEO Akalarp Yimwilai with corruption, fraud, and deception. It alleged that Yimwilai made deceptive statements about moving customers’ funds from the company’s Z wallets to overseas digital wallets.

The decision on whether to pursue criminal charges against Yimwilai, who headed Zipmex Thailand from 2018 to November 2023, now lies with the Office of the Provincial Crime Suppression Division.

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