Last week, the country’s oldest commercial bank backed out of a deal to buy a majority stake of the local crypto exchange, citing unresolved regulatory issues.

Thailand’s securities regulator has issued punishment in the insider-trading case of an executive at the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub, according to an official notice published Tuesday.

Bitkub Chief Technology Officer Samret Wajanasathian was ordered to pay a fine of 8.5 million Thai baht (around $235,000) and was barred from holding an executive position for 12 months by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Although Wajanasathian’s LinkedIn page still shows him as CTO at Bitkub, he’s absent from the company’s website.

Tuesday’s order comes after the Thai SEC in May hit Bitkub with fines for failing to comply with local regulations before listing the platform’s native token KUB. Last week, the country’s oldest commercial bank, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), backed out of a plan to purchase a majority of Bitkub, citing unresolved issues with the securities regulator.

The insider-trading case stems from an incident from last November, when the SCB acquisition plan was first announced. According to the SEC, Wajanasathian – armed with this information – bought 1.99 million Thai baht (roughly $61,000 at the time) worth of the KUB token. The price of KUB subsequently more than doubled immediately upon the public announcement.

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The Thai SEC stressed that it is only banning the use of crypto for payments and is not banning crypto trading and digital assets.

Thailand’s Security and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday that it will ban the use of crypto as a means of payment from April 1.

The regulator cited money laundering concerns and the inability of the central bank to step in and provide assistance as the reason behind the ban.

The Thai SEC stressed that this is not a ban on crypto trading and digital assets, which has become more popular among the locals in the last two years, just a ban on the use of crypto for payments.

In January, Thai authorities announced a plan to regulate digital asset payments in the country.

In the latest announcement, the Thai SEC said that digital assets do not provide improved efficiency to the payments market because of their volatility and high transaction fees.

Last year, many domestic property developers looked to crypto as a way to revitalize interest in the country’s condominium market which is largely geared towards foreigners.

Thai authorities announced in early March that crypto trades on government approved exchanges will be exempt from a 7% value-added-tax (VAT) until 2023.

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