Upbit, the South Korean-based cryptocurrency exchange, is entering the Thai market at a fortuitous time while Bitkub, a new generation digital asset and cryptocurrency exchange platform, remains suspended by government regulators.
It has been reported that a joint-venture crypto exchange between Upbit APAC and a group of Thai billionaires launched operations on January 20 (Wednesday).
However, it follows the regulatory suspension of the country’s most popular trading platform Bitkub on Monday, which had a reported 97% share of the market before its closure.
The report said that Upbit Thailand is owned by CP Group heir and owner of Fortune magazine Chatchaval Jiaravanon, and two other high-profile business magnates, Somphote Ahunai, and Preecha Praipattaraku.
Thailand’s leading exchange, Bitkub, remains sidelined by the SEC. Can a new billionaire-backed exchange chip away at Bitkub's 97% market share?https://t.co/kg2RgYDCJF — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 23, 2021
Thailand’s largest conglomerate, CP Group has fingers in a multitude of other pies, from government infrastructure projects to telecoms to COVID-19 vaccines, and now crypto.
Praipattaraku, the Board Member of Upbit Thailand, stated that the company applied for a digital asset exchange license from the Thai SEC several months ago.
Praipattaraku added:
“It’s a coincidence we received permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission at this time.”
Likewise, Bitkub has been Thailand’s premier exchange since the closure of BX Thailand in September 2019. The financial regulator ordered it to suspend services and fix issues regarding several recent outages during periods of high demand.
Thus, Poramin Insom, the Thai Crypto Pioneer and CEO of Satang exchange, said:
“Investors in the cryptocurrency market don’t have loyalty to any one market. They tend to open an account with every market and make more profit from arbitrage between the markets. We are not afraid of Thai competitors as much as foreign players such as Binance or Coinbase that have yet to enter the Thai market.”
Source: Cointelegraph