Early this morning, Thailand based cryptocurrency exchange BX.in.th made a quite abrupt announcement that it would close its operations very soon. The exchange, that provided digital exchange services and wallet services, had been operative for almost half a decade and its functions were operated by the Thai company Bitcoin Co. Ltd. The official website of the exchange BX.in.th states:
Bitcoin Co. Ltd. has decided to discontinue offering digital exchange services and wallet services at our BX.in.th website in order to focus on other business opportunities.
The exchange has asked its users to withdraw their holdings before November 2019, although it would continue to function post-November to address any issues faced by customers or any potential issue that may arise in the future. The official website has also declared that the exchange would no longer hold a Digital Asset Exchange license issued by the SEC for the coming year, 2020. Here SEC stands for the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is the country’s chief securities regulator.
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The primary function of the Commission is to review cryptocurrency exchange applications and issue licenses to the existing ones. For example, recently the Ministry of Finance under the recommendation of the SEC board rejected an application by Coin Asset Co. Ltd, which had intended to open a crypto exchange. The recommendations of the SEC may also be used by the country’s Finance Ministry to order businesses to be closed down. In such cases, the funds of the customers are returned fully.
The company, however, has set the date of September 30, 2019, after which all trading activities on the exchange will cease. By the current week, all types of deposits will also be debilitated, announced the prominent exchange. The users have been assured with all kinds of support and guidance that may be required in the process of withdrawal of funds. The Thai based exchange has also expressed gratitude towards its customers and thanked them for their loyalty over the past five years. Customers have also been guaranteed the safekeeping of their funds and that they would be returned to them in full.
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Following the announcement, Bitcoin was sold at 199,999 Thailand Baht (TBH) which is almost 6,500 US dollars, although it was valued at 9,774 USD, therefore resulting in a sharp fall on the current price. Gradually the prices showed an ascent when it started trading at 280,000 TBH or 9,100 USD. The news has also been confirmed through a tweet by the journalist Jon Rusell, this morning.
