The Thailand Securities & Exchange Commission has filed a criminal complaint with the Economic Crime Suppression Division against Bitazza Co., Ltd., Freedomverse Co., Ltd., and three individuals for allegedly operating a digital asset dealer business without the required licence under the Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018). The SEC found that Bitazza, which is licensed as a digital asset broker, offered a service called Crypto Dust that involved exchanging digital assets with Bitazza itself in the normal course of business and charging fees. It also found that Bitazza and FreedomVerse jointly offered a product called Freedom Card involving purchasing digital assets in exchange for cash and crediting such cash to the card, with fees charged, and solicited users via Bitazza’s Facebook account. In both cases, the SEC found no information indicating that orders were transmitted to another digital asset exchange and viewed the services as transactions conducted outside a digital asset exchange, which it deemed to constitute digital asset dealer activity under Section 3, allegedly breaching Section 26 and triggering liability under Section 66 and Section 94 (with Section 83 of the Criminal Code applied as relevant). The named individuals include Bitazza’s former CEO and current CEO as persons responsible for Bitazza’s operations, and two authorized directors of FreedomVerse who signed the Bitazza-FreedomVerse agreement as persons responsible for FreedomVerse’s operations. The matter now moves through investigation by inquiry officials, prosecution by the public prosecutor, and adjudication by the court. The SEC said it will monitor proceedings and urged investors to use caution with unlicensed digital asset services, noting they are not legally protected and may face risks including fraud, scams, and money laundering, and pointed to its channels for checking licensed operators and investor alerts.

Original source View in tracker