Bitget Moves to Acquire Thai Exchange GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics After $388M Hack

Crypto exchange Bitget has announced plans to acquire Thailand's GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics, moving to enter a licensed Thai market weeks after a Sept. 24 hack that affected approximately $388 million in its hot and warm wallet infrastructure.

The proposed transaction runs through BTGT Management (Thailand), a company in which Bitget says it holds an interest, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph. GMO Internet disclosed the proposed sale to BTGT Management in a Sept. 24 filing — the same day as the attack on Bitget's wallet infrastructure — targeting completion for Oct. 31.

"Thailand is an important part of Southeast Asia's digital asset landscape, and this acquisition gives us a great opportunity to establish local operations in a thriving country," Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said.

Completion remains subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. Bitget declined to comment on the size of its interest in BTGT Management or on the financial and ownership terms of the deal.

What does the acquisition change for practitioners?

The operational significance is jurisdictional. Bitget's terms of use, updated Oct. 16, list Thailand among its prohibited jurisdictions, alongside Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. For a global exchange barred from directly serving Thai users, acquiring a locally licensed operator is the only compliant route into the market.

GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics operates Z.com EX, which launched in February 2021. Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission lists the company among its licensed digital asset exchange operators. That license, not the user base alone, is the asset: Bitget effectively proposes to buy its way from the prohibited-jurisdiction list into regulated Thai operations.

The deal also lands amid a shifting Thai regulatory backdrop for digital asset products, making local licensing a prerequisite for any exchange seeking durable access to the market.

The hack timeline

The acquisition announcement follows a demanding stretch for Bitget's operations. In the Sept. 24 breach, attackers exploited a vulnerability in a third-party security product and issued fraudulent withdrawal commands, affecting approximately $388 million across hot and warm wallets.

Bitget stated that customer account balances were unaffected. The exchange completed phased restoration of withdrawals on Oct. 2 — eight days after the attack began. If the Thai deal closes by its Oct. 31 target, Bitget will have moved from incident recovery to a cross-border acquisition in roughly five weeks.

On Oct. 17, Bitget separately announced it would discontinue services for certain users, describing the measure as a "one-off exercise." That action, combined with the updated prohibited-jurisdiction list, signals a broader retrenchment of Bitget's direct international footprint at the same moment it pursues licensed-market entry through acquisition.

What comes next

Two dates now govern the story. The Oct. 31 target completion date for the GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics sale, and Thai SEC approval — the condition on which the entire market-entry strategy depends.