Bitcoin ruled illegal in Thailand
Thailand's "Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department" has advised that, quoting from the OP: <i>"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."</i><p>We can get a sense of how successful and lasting this edict will be with a simple mental experiment: replace "Bitcoin" with "US Dollar."  The edict thus becomes: <i>"the following US Dollar activities are illegal in Thailand: buying US Dollars; selling US Dollars; buying any goods or services in exchange for US Dollars; selling any goods or services for US Dollars; sending US Dollars to anyone located outside of Thailand; receiving US Dollars from anyone located outside of Thailand."</i>  How successful could <i>that edict</i> be, and how long could it last, realistically?<p>Foreign exchange controls are normally difficult to implement and enforce. Control of Bitcoin -- a decentralized, optionally anonymous, virtual commodity -- should be even more difficult.<p>I suspect a lot of Bitcoin trading volume in Thailand will simply go underground.