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After a whole-hearted attempt to set up shop as a transparent bitcoin exchange, Bitcoin Co. Ltd. has been shutdown by the country's central bank. Although there's no official law prohibiting the use of bitcoins and bitcoin accessories, "senior members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department" are those responsible to decide such policies. And their decision is the first of its kind in the world: Bitcoin is now illegal in Thailand.
It may just be the biggest bithurt moment yet. Effective immediately—as the exchange's shutdown notice explained—the following activities are now forbidden 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
Well, then. That's just about everything there is to do with bitcoins. But it's definitely still possible for those with bitcoins in Thailand to find any number of workarounds.
In taking precaution, as all bitcoin users should be doing, Thai bitcoin users should stay definitely stay on their Tor clients (or VPN's) when reading or typing the words bitcoin, crypto-currency, and so on. I'd also advise turning bitcoins into litecoins—that is, until Thailand decides to shut that down as well, or updates some comprehensive crypto-currency prohibition.
If you still want to use Bitcoin, I'd sell for Thai baht and keep things as word-of-mouth as possible. If you really need to bring your bitcoins back into fiat, and there are a lot, you might cross the border. Head for Cambodia or China and exchange in a country that hasn’t dismissed the beleaguered cryptocurrency yet.
If you're going to use other Thai exchanges, which seem to have not shut down yet (maybe they haven't heard the news?), I'd be extra careful. There is no reason to try and beat the system in any vocal way. I'd expect Thai citizens to assume just as much. For a country that blocks access to YouTube videos deemed offensive to the Royal family, there's a good reason that Bitcoin Co. Ltd. wasn't about to put up a fight.
So what's next? After having closely followed the craze behind Bitcoin ATMs during the Cyprian national bank breakdown, we probably shouldn't be surprised by "Bitcoins without Borders"-themed causes. The growing community and its evangelists are surely to jump in and instruct Thailand's bitcoiners back to safety.
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