Thailand Approves Fully-Legal Bitcoin Exchange

[Guido]

When most Westerners hear the word “Thailand” they usually envision and exotic tropical local where anything is available for a price. If these images were real then Thailand would seem to be the type of open economic environment that is perfect for cryptocurrencies of all types.

The real world is seldom the way that we see it however, especially if the way we see it is from our televisions. Thailand is a thriving, diverse county with many opportunities as well as risks. The Bitcoin community in Thalland is thriving with four unregistered exchanges and now two fully legal exchanges. The first legal exchange in Thailand was opened by Bitcoin Company Limited.

But, like most of the world, the government in Bangkok has been, to say the least, hesitant to embrace Bitcoin and their overall negative attitude has led to rumors that the government had banned cryptocurrencies all together. Whatever Thailand's stance on Bitcoin was in the past doesn’t matter as the country approved its first and second fully-legal and fully-regulated Bitcoin exchanges.

The country began to take a hard stance against Bitcoin in July, 2013 after Bitcoin Company Limited presented the idea of Bitcoin operations in the country to the Bank of Thailand. The Bank was mainly concerned with the lack of regulation or even applicable laws and capital controls. They also had concerns about the ability to control Bitcoin because it applies to so many different facets of the economy. But this stance began to relax in the spring after the Minister of Finance made the statement that Bitcoin was not in their legal jurisdiction “so long as foreign currencies are used to make the exchanges.”

The stance changed from a ban on trading to ‘permitted trading’ but to/from Thai baht only within a few months. When the restrictions were first relaxed, the Bank of Thailand said that it had no plans to make any expansions in the law with regards to regulating Bitcoin. One reality however is that the Bitcoin community in Thailand is thriving and growing and ruling that Bitcoin was not “currency” was not a ban on using or holding Bitcoin. We must remember that while the government shut down the countries biggest Bitcoin exchange, it later allowed it to resume operations.

But until now Bitcoin exchanges in Thailand were unregulated. Then an exchange opened earlier this year to complement the Bitcoin Company LTD. The company's E-Commerce registration was approved on June 20, 2014 by the Huay Khwang District Office and the exchange’s website (coins.co.th) is open for business.

Coins (Thailand) Co. Ltd. is now the second fully regulated Bitcoin exchange in Thailand alongside Thai Bitcoin marketplace with only these two exchanges obtaining e-commerce registrations. But Bitcoin is still being traded as a commodity and not as currency. And the Thai government does not appear ready to change this anytime soon while merchants are not obligated to accept it as legal tender. The good thing is however that more and more merchants are accepting Bitcoin, which now number over 30 according to some estimates.

http://cointelegraph.com/news/112043/thailand-approves-fully-legal-bitcoin-exchange

[Erdogan]

Another article (look for english translation in the lower part)

http://www.3-coin.com/2014-07-10/4301/

From that article, you can draw the conclusion that their concern is the baht, meaning no import of bitcoins, no goods for bitcoin, and no local exchange to baht:

“so long as foreign currencies are used to make the exchanges.”

but they also do not think it is realistic to make such a law and enforce it:

"had no plans to make any expansions in the law with regards to regulating Bitcoin"

Some regulation of exchanges is to be expected. I think it detrimental to bitcoin but in a minor way. Governments should stay away from bitcoin (they should stay away from everything, really). Eventually, it doesn't matter.

[Este Nuno]

Another article (look for english translation in the lower part)

http://www.3-coin.com/2014-07-10/4301/

From that article, you can draw the conclusion that their concern is the baht, meaning no import of bitcoins, no goods for bitcoin, and no local exchange to baht:

“so long as foreign currencies are used to make the exchanges.”

How are the exchanges able to trade in baht and withdraw baht to peoples bank accounts then? I'm confused.

[CoinMode]

Another article (look for english translation in the lower part)

http://www.3-coin.com/2014-07-10/4301/

From that article, you can draw the conclusion that their concern is the baht, meaning no import of bitcoins, no goods for bitcoin, and no local exchange to baht:

“so long as foreign currencies are used to make the exchanges.”

How are the exchanges able to trade in baht and withdraw baht to peoples bank accounts then? I'm confused.

They'll do it exactly the same as they did in China. Just buy some exchange vouchers using Bhat, then go to the exchange and trade the vouchers for bitcoin. You can also do that in reverse.

[Erdogan]

Another article (look for english translation in the lower part)

http://www.3-coin.com/2014-07-10/4301/

From that article, you can draw the conclusion that their concern is the baht, meaning no import of bitcoins, no goods for bitcoin, and no local exchange to baht:

“so long as foreign currencies are used to make the exchanges.”

How are the exchanges able to trade in baht and withdraw baht to peoples bank accounts then? I'm confused.

Don't be. They just accepted the fact that they cannot do anything, so they condoned the bourses.

[gonnafly]

Here comes first legal users http://imgur.com/7zJ4RsH

[LiteCoinGuy]

Here comes first legal users http://imgur.com/7zJ4RsH

great 


but seriously: its better than nothing. at least they have a handfull of exchanges and in the longrun, you cant stop it anyway...

[jjc326]

I really wish we had something like this in the US, something that was very simple.  I'd love to be able to have my bank account $ transferred into BTC just by doing 1 click, and being able to trade it back into fiat just as easily.  I think there's a huge market there, if someone could figure out all the legal red tape.

[Nerazzura]

When most Westerners hear the word “Thailand” they usually envision and exotic tropical local where anything is available for a price. If these images were real then Thailand would seem to be the type of open economic environment that is perfect for cryptocurrencies of all types.

The real world is seldom the way that we see it however, especially if the way we see it is from our televisions. Thailand is a thriving, diverse county with many opportunities as well as risks. The Bitcoin community in Thalland is thriving with four unregistered exchanges and now two fully legal exchanges. The first legal exchange in Thailand was opened by Bitcoin Company Limited.

But, like most of the world, the government in Bangkok has been, to say the least, hesitant to embrace Bitcoin and their overall negative attitude has led to rumors that the government had banned cryptocurrencies all together. Whatever Thailand's stance on Bitcoin was in the past doesn’t matter as the country approved its first and second fully-legal and fully-regulated Bitcoin exchanges.

The country began to take a hard stance against Bitcoin in July, 2013 after Bitcoin Company Limited presented the idea of Bitcoin operations in the country to the Bank of Thailand. The Bank was mainly concerned with the lack of regulation or even applicable laws and capital controls. They also had concerns about the ability to control Bitcoin because it applies to so many different facets of the economy. But this stance began to relax in the spring after the Minister of Finance made the statement that Bitcoin was not in their legal jurisdiction “so long as foreign currencies are used to make the exchanges.”

The stance changed from a ban on trading to ‘permitted trading’ but to/from Thai baht only within a few months. When the restrictions were first relaxed, the Bank of Thailand said that it had no plans to make any expansions in the law with regards to regulating Bitcoin. One reality however is that the Bitcoin community in Thailand is thriving and growing and ruling that Bitcoin was not “currency” was not a ban on using or holding Bitcoin. We must remember that while the government shut down the countries biggest Bitcoin exchange, it later allowed it to resume operations.

But until now Bitcoin exchanges in Thailand were unregulated. Then an exchange opened earlier this year to complement the Bitcoin Company LTD. The company's E-Commerce registration was approved on June 20, 2014 by the Huay Khwang District Office and the exchange’s website (coins.co.th) is open for business.

Coins (Thailand) Co. Ltd. is now the second fully regulated Bitcoin exchange in Thailand alongside Thai Bitcoin marketplace with only these two exchanges obtaining e-commerce registrations. But Bitcoin is still being traded as a commodity and not as currency. And the Thai government does not appear ready to change this anytime soon while merchants are not obligated to accept it as legal tender. The good thing is however that more and more merchants are accepting Bitcoin, which now number over 30 according to some estimates.

http://cointelegraph.com/news/112043/thailand-approves-fully-legal-bitcoin-exchange

The Thai government decided that Bitcoin is "illegal" in July last year. But that decision may change. Each type of currency exchange in Thailand need to obtain a license from the Bank of Thailand whether it is "real" money or not. Because Bitcoin is something completely new at the time, the Bank of Thailand does not yet have a policy to deal with the Bank of Thailand to cooperate with the relevant authorities such as the Ministry of ICT and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve this issue.
and, this may be the answer. hopefully it can happen to other Asian countries

[erik777]

I really wish we had something like this in the US, something that was very simple.  I'd love to be able to have my bank account $ transferred into BTC just by doing 1 click, and being able to trade it back into fiat just as easily.  I think there's a huge market there, if someone could figure out all the legal red tape.

Does coinbase.com do that? 

[Envrin]

Don't get too excited just yet.  Remember, Thailand recently had a coup and is currently under military rule, so things may change once a civilian government is back in power.

[Este Nuno]

When most Westerners hear the word “Thailand” they usually envision and exotic tropical local where anything is available for a price. If these images were real then Thailand would seem to be the type of open economic environment that is perfect for cryptocurrencies of all types.

The real world is seldom the way that we see it however, especially if the way we see it is from our televisions. Thailand is a thriving, diverse county with many opportunities as well as risks. The Bitcoin community in Thalland is thriving with four unregistered exchanges and now two fully legal exchanges. The first legal exchange in Thailand was opened by Bitcoin Company Limited.

But, like most of the world, the government in Bangkok has been, to say the least, hesitant to embrace Bitcoin and their overall negative attitude has led to rumors that the government had banned cryptocurrencies all together. Whatever Thailand's stance on Bitcoin was in the past doesn’t matter as the country approved its first and second fully-legal and fully-regulated Bitcoin exchanges.

The country began to take a hard stance against Bitcoin in July, 2013 after Bitcoin Company Limited presented the idea of Bitcoin operations in the country to the Bank of Thailand. The Bank was mainly concerned with the lack of regulation or even applicable laws and capital controls. They also had concerns about the ability to control Bitcoin because it applies to so many different facets of the economy. But this stance began to relax in the spring after the Minister of Finance made the statement that Bitcoin was not in their legal jurisdiction “so long as foreign currencies are used to make the exchanges.”

The stance changed from a ban on trading to ‘permitted trading’ but to/from Thai baht only within a few months. When the restrictions were first relaxed, the Bank of Thailand said that it had no plans to make any expansions in the law with regards to regulating Bitcoin. One reality however is that the Bitcoin community in Thailand is thriving and growing and ruling that Bitcoin was not “currency” was not a ban on using or holding Bitcoin. We must remember that while the government shut down the countries biggest Bitcoin exchange, it later allowed it to resume operations.

But until now Bitcoin exchanges in Thailand were unregulated. Then an exchange opened earlier this year to complement the Bitcoin Company LTD. The company's E-Commerce registration was approved on June 20, 2014 by the Huay Khwang District Office and the exchange’s website (coins.co.th) is open for business.

Coins (Thailand) Co. Ltd. is now the second fully regulated Bitcoin exchange in Thailand alongside Thai Bitcoin marketplace with only these two exchanges obtaining e-commerce registrations. But Bitcoin is still being traded as a commodity and not as currency. And the Thai government does not appear ready to change this anytime soon while merchants are not obligated to accept it as legal tender. The good thing is however that more and more merchants are accepting Bitcoin, which now number over 30 according to some estimates.

http://cointelegraph.com/news/112043/thailand-approves-fully-legal-bitcoin-exchange

The Thai government decided that Bitcoin is "illegal" in July last year. But that decision may change. Each type of currency exchange in Thailand need to obtain a license from the Bank of Thailand whether it is "real" money or not. Because Bitcoin is something completely new at the time, the Bank of Thailand does not yet have a policy to deal with the Bank of Thailand to cooperate with the relevant authorities such as the Ministry of ICT and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve this issue.
and, this may be the answer. hopefully it can happen to other Asian countries

Wasn't it the Bank of Thailand specifically who made the first declaration that Bitcoin was "illegal"(although I don't remember them using that word)? It's not like there was ever any talk of Bitcoin in parliament from law makers or anything. Plus the Bank of Thailand came back and reversed and clarified that original negative statement that they made.

It looks like that for now and the next few years at least everything is clear for Bitcoin in Thailand. Unless someone gets on the news for gambling with it or buying/selling drugs everything should be alright. But if that does happen I would definitely fear the crackdown. I can just imagine what kind of bullshit would be flying around about Bitcoin if there was ever a high profile bust that involved it. It would be facepalm city.

[btcbookmarks]

great, will add to my links collection at btcbookmarks.com

[lihuajkl]

Don't get too excited just yet.  Remember, Thailand recently had a coup and is currently under military rule, so things may change once a civilian government is back in power.

The political situation is not stable yet, which is not good to start btc business there. At the other hand, there are just a few of exchanges related btc there.

[Este Nuno]

Don't get too excited just yet.  Remember, Thailand recently had a coup and is currently under military rule, so things may change once a civilian government is back in power.

The political situation is not stable yet, which is not good to start btc business there. At the other hand, there are just a few of exchanges related btc there.

Actually it's really stable at the moment. Doesn't get much more stable than this.

[sugarfree]

Do the guys running the exchange not have plans to bring in an ATM? I just got one myself, if I was in a position to head back to Thailand now I would bring it!

[seriouscoin]

Thailand really should embrace BTC as it suit their economical model perfectly.

[Summer,69]

Does not look like an exchange, but a coinbase liked thing that comes with giant spread. https://bx.in.th/ is still the only exchange in Thailand.

[annoyingorange]

I lived in Thailand and BTC was never really banned. There have been other exchanges, namely BahtCoin running uninterrupted for quite some time. With that said, this is a much better exchange and I'm glad it's back.

[dadugan]

I lived in Thailand and BTC was never really banned. There have been other exchanges, namely BahtCoin running uninterrupted for quite some time. With that said, this is a much better exchange and I'm glad it's back.

Thought bitcoin was banned in Thailand last year.