Bitget plans Thailand exchange acquisition to expand Southeast Asia operations

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Bitget Thailand exchange acquisition

Highlights

Bitget plans to acquire Thailand's GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics via BTGT Management, targeting a deal completion date of Oct. 31, 2024.
Acquisition enables Bitget to establish local operations through a licensed Thai exchange, pending regulatory approval and meeting other conditions.
Following a $388 million cyberattack disclosed on Sept. 24, Bitget completed phased withdrawal restoration by Oct. 2 and updated its terms to discontinue select users and restrict specific jurisdictions.

Thailand entry plan and transaction timeline

As reported by Cointelegraph, Bitget has announced plans to acquire Thailand's GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics through BTGT Management (Thailand), a company in which Bitget says it holds an interest. The company says the transaction would allow it to bring its trading platform to Thai users and deepen its presence in Southeast Asia.

Bitget Chief Executive Gracy Chen says Thailand is an important part of the region's digital asset market and that the acquisition offers a chance to establish local operations in the country. GMO Internet disclosed the proposed sale to BTGT Management in a Sept. 24 filing and set a target completion date of Oct. 31.

Bitget has not disclosed how large its stake in BTGT Management is, or the financial and ownership terms of the proposed acquisition. GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics operates Z.com EX, which launched in February 2021, and Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission lists the company among licensed digital asset exchange operators.

Regulatory hurdles and operational context

Completion of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. The deal also creates a potential pathway for Bitget to serve the Thai market through a locally licensed operator, even though Thailand appears on the exchange's terms of use as a prohibited jurisdiction.

The expansion effort follows a Sept. 24 cyberattack on Bitget's hot and warm wallet systems. In its account of the breach, the exchange says attackers exploited a vulnerability in a third-party security product and issued fraudulent withdrawal commands, affecting about $388 million.

Bitget says customer account balances remain unaffected and that phased restoration of withdrawals is completed on Oct. 2. On Oct. 17, the company also announces plans to discontinue services for certain users, describing the step as a one-off exercise; its updated Oct. 16 terms list Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan among prohibited jurisdictions.

In our earlier article on CTOS Digital’s cybersecurity incident and its estimated financial impact, we covered the company’s guidance that the breach could cut annual profit after tax by RM12 million and revenue by RM16 million if disruptions persisted into late October. We also noted that prolonged service interruptions can weigh on customer confidence and raise ongoing security and recovery costs, potentially extending the hit to performance beyond the immediate outage period.

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