Thai Banking Giant KBank Acquires Crypto Exchange Satang

One of the largest banks in Thailand, Kasikornbank (also known as KBank), has acquired a majority stake in the parent company of local crypto exchange Satang, the bank said in letter published with the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 30 October.

According to the announcement, KBank was able to acquire 97% of Satang’s shares through a deal valued at 3.7 billion Thai baht (worth aproximately $103 million), which was made through Unita Capital, the bank’s new subsidiary focused on investments in the digital asset sector. Santang’s founder, Poramin Insom, quickly confirmed the news via Facebook, noting that Satang’s other endeavours — blockchain service platform Satang Technology, and space-related Satang Space — will continue to operate as usual. He said in his post:

“Other companies of Satang, whether it is Satang Technology that provides blockchain services, or Satang Space that operates in space, will continue to operate unaffected. So I reported here. In case Satang’s corporate customers are shocked at what the existing services will be like in the future.”

Following the acquisition, KBank plans to rebrand the crypto exchange from Satang to Orbix Trade Company Limited, as well as divide the crypto business into three divisions. The first division will be the custody platform Orbix Custodian, the second will be crypto venture arm Orbix Invest, and the final will be blockchain technology developer Orbix Technology.

KBank is Thailand’s second largest lender by assets in the country, and has recently secured a crypto exchange license, and is currently “actively pursuing the remaining licenses for crypto. The acquisition of the crypto exchange comes shortly after KBank launched a $100 million investment fund targeted at Web3, fintech and artificial intelligence (AI).