Bitcoin Forum

First shot across the bow!  Thailand rules that all transactions involving BTC are illegal.  Wonder how they'll enforce it...

https://bitcoin.co.th/trading-suspended-due-to-bank-of-thailand-advisement/?bettertitle

Say whaaa?!  :o

Apologies for going off topic.... but... you would be surprised whats legal/illegal in Thailand. Every person in Thailand probably breaks dozzens of laws on a daily basis which the authorities choose to ignore until you've stepped on the wrong toes...

http://www.stupidlaws.com/laws/countries/thailand/

Bad news for Goat.

BAD NEWS :o

FUD flag thrown: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=264389.0

All they have done is create a black market for Bitcoins.    Unforceability is the problem.   

I'll bet this is a testing ground for other countries.  Kinda like the test they did with Cypress.  Bitcoin won on Cypress and will win here.

Not I sir.  What I'm saying is I think the bankers are throwing this out there for some media hype and as a scare tactic to test the waters.  The price actually went up recently.  Can't stop a locomotive.

It's all over the media. Not from a troll.

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/7/29/4569126/bitcoin-tries-to-become-legal-currency-in-thailand-gets-outlawed

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/10210022/Bitcoins-banned-in-Thailand.html

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/07/29/bitcoin-now-illegal-in-thailand/?mod%3DMW_latest_news

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/29/bitcoin-illegal-in-thailand

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/07/30/thailands-government-rules-bitcoin-as-illegal-resulting-in-an-indefinite-trading-suspension/

When I first read those headlines, the first thought that popped into my head was "bankers can't make laws."  All central banks in the world are in cahoots with each other.  They decided to test this threat on a small innocuous country and see where it takes them. 

I understand you're having fun calling people trolls but you seem to be quite the troll as you call others trolls.  No offense taken.

An online website from the UK definitely reported that the Thailand court ruled that the exchange of bitcoins for currency is illegal. At least if it involves an international transaction.

http://codinginmysleep.com/bitcoin-illegal-in-thailand-sort-of-not-really-maybe/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CodingInMySleep+%28Coding+In+My+Sleep%29

This puts a blocker on one BTC project I know that's running in Thailand now.
I suspect there's going to be some positive news next month.

One cannot just stop the fud machine. Thailand is not the place where any written law have considerate meaning.

Yeah I read it dude. I'm just posting a blogger's opinion.  We'll see how this plays out.

First I should say I completely believe that Goat would know what he's talking about here...

Secondly, my dutch friend was just telling me he read about bitcoin being made illegal in thailand.

Not sure how this FUD can be being spread sooo far!

You better grab your doe and kids and hoof it to the nearest bleating boat, NEAHHH!

Confirmed, an article with the title "Thailand bans Bitcoin" was on the homepage of one of the main news websites this morning. Only inside the article you would find that their only "source" was this blogger.

Pi Goat,
Ive used their exchange in the past, did not get scammed. Ive also used bahtcoin.com cpl of times, it seems they are still operational.

Question to you is... in your opinion... is it this exchange trolling us, or is it BOT trolling the exchange?

I can't find any credible source and/or government (thailand) declaring that Bitcoins are illegal. Goat has pretty much covered what I was going to say.

I can't believe how far FUD can fly, i've never seen it to this degree before.

Not only this is FUD and OP didn't bother checking the source, but he also capitalised incorrectly Bitcoin in the thread title... -.-

Damn, it's on engadget too. 

http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/30/thailand-bitcoin-ban/#comments

It was on the Dutch news!

I think, there is something wrong with. No one can block the mining but limit the usage. Better to read who first.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/10210022/Bitcoins-banned-in-Thailand.html

^^This is the article that I was specifically referring to, but there are many more online.

Would be the first court that can rule things illegal I ever heard of anyway. That's the parliaments/kings/dictators job. Courts interprets law, they don't make it.

Also in Belgium on the news, saddening how bad the news media verify their sources.

You are correct. It did not say "court." However, I think that it would be very naive to totally disregard the fact that the Bank does not recognize the Bitcoin as a legitimate source of currency. I do not see how that does not factor into whether or not this public announcement will affect the use of Bitcoins in Thailand. When you want to make a point, you should not try to disprove other people's statements via name-calling. That only makes you look like you want to win your argument by any means necessary and not because your argument is actually a sound one.

Also, a court's interpretation of the law has A LOT to do with how the law is enforced. Words without meaning really don't mean much, do they?

Its the opposite. The statement if true recognizes Bitcoin to be a form of currency.

From a bangkok post article in the newspaper today (business page 1)

This was in an article attributed to AP, but the online versions of the article dont have that info (even on the version on the newspaper's site). Remembered reading it in the paper earlier... so looked it up in an online service...

https://i.imgur.com/EK7Evz4l.png (https://i.imgur.com/EK7Evz4.png)

I guess this is the only instance of a reply from BoT about this issue....

It happens all the time, especially with non-English-speaking countries where English-language journalists don't know how to check sources.

Another recent example was the claim that Japan were banning Tor. This came from someone reading an English-language report and jumping to conclusions, which then got relayed to the BBC and all the most trustworthy tech news sources. Somebody then went back and checked the original minutes that the first English-language report had been based on and discovered there was nothing like a ban being suggested, but nobody bothered correcting because nobody wants to run the story "Our earlier story was a load of shite" or "Japan not banning Tor, nothing interesting happened today".

Yeah, but the really funny yet awesome thing about all of this is THEY CAN'T BAN BITCOIN.
Unless they shut down the internet forever. LMAO!

And that's why rectifying should be enforced by law.

"Dont feed the trolls,please."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsMj6UK4i7g

"THAILAND MAKES BITCOINS ILLEGAL BECAUSE ITS LAWS ARE TOO OLD-FASHIONED"
http://www.fastcompany.com/3015007/fast-feed/thailand-makes-bitcoins-illegal-because-its-laws-are-too-old-fashioned

"A bitcoin company says the virtual currency is illegal in Thailand"
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/07/29/bitcoin-now-illegal-in-thailand/?mod=MW_latest_news

"Thai central bank rules Bitcoin to be illegal"
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/29/bitcoin-illegal-in-thailand


Well somebody better go tell the news media that bitcoin is not illegal because it certainly looks illegal...

No, nor is FinCEN's statement the equivalent of Case Law in the US... but it would be smart to follow the advice, no?


"The ruling means it is illegal to buy and sell bitcoins, buy or sell any goods or services in exchange for bitcoins, send any bitcoins to anyone outside of Thailand, or receive bitcoins from anyone outside the country".

https://bitcoin.co.th/news/

At the conclusion of the meeting senior members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department advised that due to lack of existing applicable laws, capital controls and the fact that Bitcoin straddles multiple financial facets the following Bitcoin activities are 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

Wow, what a thoughtful addition to the conversation.   ::)


"Any type of currency enchange service in Thailand needs to get a license from the Bank of Thailand, according to the Exchange Control Regulations in Thailand whether it’s “real” money or not. That’s why Bitcoin Co. Ltd. needed to be authorised to operate, and since it didn’t have that authorization, it was forced to shut down."

http://memeburn.com/2013/08/bitcoin-and-thailand-whats-really-happening/

Sounds almost exactly like what happened with FinCEN DHS and MtGox.... well except that these guys actually tried to follow the law and voluntarily shut down unlike MtGox and all the other illegal bitcoin exchanges.

"However, the Bank of Thailand isn’t just ignoring this matter. It’s working with the relevant authorities such as the Ministry of ICT and the Securities and Exchange Commission to sort this out. Using Bitcoin in any way within the Kingdom of Thailand is banned for now"

OMG Goat, you must be scared, they seem to be coming for you directly.


"Prasan Trairatworakun, Bank of Thailand’s governor, says that the bank hasn’t approved Bitcoin Co. Ltd. to do business in Thailand because the transactions that the company is involved in center around the exchange rate but are not an actual currency exchange (since bitcoin is not a physical currency)."