According to regulatory filings, Bitkub, a Thai cryptocurrency exchange, has decided to sell a 9.22% stake in the business to regional game publisher Asphere Innovations for US $17.8 million.
In Thailand, where more than 6.2 million people owned cryptocurrency as of last year, Bitkub will be able to expand its digital asset services due to the sale of shares to Asphere.
Jirayut Srupsrisopa founded Bitkub in 2018, which enables users to purchase, sell, and store cryptocurrency assets. Thailand’s Ministry of Finance granted the business a license to conduct business there in the early months of 2019.
After initially announcing that Thai bank SCBX would buy it out, valuing the 51% stake at over US $500 million, Bitkub attained unicorn status.
Due diligence revealed numerous issues that Bitkub’s management needed to address, but the acquisition was abandoned due to regulatory concerns last year. The nation’s Securities and Exchange Commission issued directives regarding other issues that needed to be resolved.
A crypto winter that also caused the company’s profits to decline by 86% during the same period resulted in Bitkub reporting revenue of US $80 million in 2022, down 48% from the previous year.
