Bitkub Online, Thailand’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO), after it hired Piyanuch Limapornvanitch as its group chief people officer last week. 

Based in Bangkok, Piyanuch will advise Bitkub Capital Group Holdings, which owns Bitkub Online, on its people design and culture, while also developing a people team strategy and the cultivation of a corporate culture “rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion”.

In a statement announcing her appointment, Bitkub says Piyanuch will “also [lead] us for an IPO, company design for SEC compliance, and corporatization”.

Piyanuch joins Bitkub from the Central and Robinson Department Store, a leading retail mall, where she served as head of human resources. 

In addition to Piyanuch’s hire, the crypto exchange is also on a massive hiring spree, calling for applications to fill at least 62 positions which have been marked “urgent” on its website. The company is also looking to fill specific legal positions ahead of its planned IPO. 

Media reports have quoted Bitkub’s CEO Kirayut Srupsrisopa as saying that the exchange’s IPO could be valued at 6 billion baht (US$165 million). 

While Bitkub is Thailand’s biggest digital asset exchange, with over 9 million total app downloads, it is facing steeper competition in the country. 

In May 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand granted Gulf Binance, a joint venture between Binance and Gulf Energy Development, a licence to operate in the country. 

While Thailand has been steadily granting cryptocurrency exchange and brokerage licences, it has also taken a cautionary approach to the use of digital assets as payments, banning the use of crypto tokens for payments of goods and services in March 2022. Users, however, can buy and sell cryptocurrency and digital assets as an investment.