Thailand says no to Bitcoin: ‘Bitcoin activities are illegal in Thailand’

The Bank of Thailand officially banned the use of bitcoins Monday, making the Kingdom the first country to do so, according to  Bitcoin Co. Ltd.

Bitcoin
Image/CASASCIUS

This occurred after Bitcoin participated  in a conference about how Bitcoin works in general, and business operations of Bitcoin Co. Ltd.   The conference was held with about 15 members of the Bank of Thailand in attendance.

During this conference, managing director of Bitcoin Co. Ltd. gave a presentation about the workings of Bitcoin, the benefits of Bitcoin, insight into the company’s operations and future implications of Bitcoin.

However, after the Bitcoin presentation, Thailand government authorities ruled that “Bitcoin activities are illegal in Thailand”.

Due to lack of existing applicable laws, capital controls and the fact that Bitcoin straddles multiple financial facets the following Bitcoin activities are now illegal in Thailand:

• Buying Bitcoins
• Selling Bitcoins
• Buying any goods or services in exchange for Bitcoins
• Selling any goods or services for Bitcoins
• Sending Bitcoins to anyone located outside of Thailand
• Receiving Bitcoins from anyone located outside of Thailand

The Thai government did say they will further consider the issue, but did not give any specific timeline.

Wikipedia describes Bitcoin as follows: Bitcoin (sign: ; code: BTC) is a cryptocurrency where the creation and transfer of bitcoins is based on an open-source cryptographic protocol that is independent of any central authority. Bitcoins can be transferred through a computer or smartphone without an intermediate financial institution.

Read more at Bitcoin.org or watch the video below: