Crypto exchange Bitget said on Oct. 20 that it plans to acquire GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics (Thailand), a licensed Bangkok exchange and brokerage owned by Japan’s GMO Internet, and use it to offer its trading platform to users in Thailand.
Bitget said it is making the purchase through its interest in BTGT Management (Thailand) Ltd., which will take over the shares. GMO Internet’s board approved selling the exchange to BTGT on Sept. 24, but that disclosure did not mention Bitget. GMO said in the filing that BTGT was “newly established for the purpose of acquiring the business in question” and listed its establishment date as Sept. 22, with share capital of 2 million Thai baht. Bitget has not said how large its stake in BTGT is.
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Approval Still Pending
Bitget said completion depends on regulatory approval, among other conditions. It plans to bring its platform to Thai users only after the deal closes and the change of control is approved, and said it would operate under Thai rules. The GMO filing lists Oct. 31 as the expected effective date of the share transfer and says BTGT’s major shareholders will comply with the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules on approving major shareholders. No approval had been announced as of publication.
“Building a presence in a market requires local expertise, an understanding of the regulatory environment and a long-term commitment to the market,” Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said in the release. She called Thailand “an important part of Southeast Asia’s digital asset landscape.”
GMO Internet holds 49% of the exchange directly and its Thai holding company holds 50.94%, and all 7,349,446 shares are set to change hands. The price was withheld “at the request of the buyer,” according to the filing, and GMO expects the effect on its 2026 results to be “minimal.”
A Loss-Making Exchange
GMO Internet said in March that it would exit the Thai digital asset business. It had bought the Thai units from its parent, GMO Internet Group, in March 2025, and a month later began reviewing its businesses amid a reshuffle across the group. The exchange posted a net loss of about 87.6 million baht in 2025 on net sales of about 11 million baht, and also lost money in 2023 and 2024, the filing shows.
The deal comes as Bitget recovers from a Sept. 24 attack in which about $388 million was taken from its hot and warm wallets. Chen has said the attacker exploited a flaw in a third-party security product. Bitget started restoring withdrawals in phases on Sept. 28 and has said customer balances were not affected, with the Bitget Protection Fund covering the losses.
Related Listen: Just Days After the Hack, Scammers Were Still Targeting Bitget’s CEO
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