cmsally

From what I can see you are just dismissing anything that you don't agree with or don't understand as conspiracy theory and hyperbole. The Chinese are using QR codes/Covid passports as a means of control. To evade testing, quarantine or restriction of movement is pretty much impossible. They seem to already have used this handy app to control protests. CBDC is programmable, I think most people can see where that would go. No I am not a conspiracy theorist , I am a realist.

Do you mean this post? If this is the one, I would like to know which part is exaggerated.

China was being used as an example of what can happen if a country goes down the route of digital currency and the accompanying social control. Code turns red and you can't go to the bank, store, school or pretty much anywhere. It's a fact , it's not conspiracy. People in other countries need to ask themselves if this is what they want.

I never said it had anything to do with Chinese domination, however the Thai-business elite do have links to China along with other parts of the world. We need to look at who is doing the "choosing" and that would be the business elites who have established monopolies both within countries and across the world. You can pretty much bet that those doing the choosing are going to be those that benefit. There is also the likelihood that this will be a tiered system which will benefit the corporations. They will probably not be using the same system as the guy on the street. We should be focused on states controlling their people and that is what CBDC is for . There is then a higher level where countries jostle for influence which involves trade, financial systems etc. things that are difficult for us to control. However those that have a higher level of control over their citizens will probably have an advantage on the world stage to some extent. And no, the government is not your friend!

It has everything to do with Thai businesses choosing to go cashless. The big driving forces behind CBDC's and cashless payments in Thailand are the big Thai-Chinese corporations (True, CP, Chang, Central, big banks etc). Thailand may pay lip service to small business but in reality it couldn't give a toss.

Safe as houses, what could possibly go wrong! "In China, for example, Huawei tested a face-scanning system that can trigger an “Uighur alarm,” which detects members of the Uighurs, the oppressed minority group. (Chinese authorities have arbitrarily detained as many as one million Uighurs and other minorities in as many as 400 facilities in Xinjiang, in the largest internment of an ethno-religious minority since WWII.) This system would allow the Chinese government to control and prosecute the Uighurs if they so wished." "In 2019, at an annual Black Hat hacker convention, hackers breached Apple’s iPhone FaceID authentication system in just two minutes. In February 2020, Clearview AI — a company that scrapes the internet and syphons billions of online photos for facial-recognition technology use — had its entire client list stolen. This hack has most likely played a crucial role in further hacking attempts at the company and its clients, most of which being law enforcement agencies and banks. In 2020, a McAfee cybersecurity team demonstrated a fault in facial-recognition systems. They used a specially manipulated photo to trick a system similar to one used at airports for passport identification via facial recognition into accepting that the individual on the passport was the same as the one recorded by the system camera. This would enable a person on a no-fly list, for example, to board the airplane. In March 2021, a criminal group used photos bought from the online black market to dupe a government-run Chinese site, stealing $76.2 million in the process." https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facial-recognition-technology-is-one-of-the-biggest-threats-to-our-privacy-11640623526

These days it has gone up a notch and moved on to Behavioural Insights and Nudge Techniques. This type of state behaviour is in my opinion unethical; governments should be working on behalf of the people so nudging their behaviour does not exactly fit the job description.

I voted "against". 1. Cash means we have a physical representation of our money. Without electricity or a network we would be unable to use any kind of virtual currency. Let's face it on the time spectrum we haven't had electricity or the internet for that long. So we could be left without the means to make transactions; in that situation I imagine people would go back to barter. 2. Digital currency is basically a virtual representation of a physical object. If you get rid of the physical object which it represents then it can no longer be a representation of a real object/concept. It then becomes a totally imaginary concept. 3. CBDC's are issued by federal/central banks so it would be easy to subject it to government control. They are essentially programmable which cash is not. This could lead to issues such as geofencing, expiry dates, limitations of use etc. 4. The push for CBDC's comes from the Bank of International Settlements which have a less than stellar reputation - eg. their facilitation of the transfer of Czech gold to German accounts just before the Second World War. I have nothing against the use of technology but we are basically being conditioned to accept convenience at the expense of privacy and reliability. PS How do you have a run on the banks if there is no cash. Just think about the situation in Lebanon where people held up the bank to get their own money. How would that work if there is no cash?

PayPal isn't a bank , it's a company providing financial services (e-commerce company), the laws are different.

Paypal Thailand was forced by the Thai govt. to come onshore. As soon as they came onshore they had to abide by the rules set by the Thai govt. In this case I think it might be the Electronic Transactions Act or something similar (something to do with e-commerce regulations).

As much as I hate Paypal this is a Thai thing rather than a Paypal thing. It all started in the past year or two when Paypal in Thailand had to move onshore because of the KYC regulations (previously PayPal Thailand was part of the Singapore operation). At that time there was a deadline for using PayPal and any business accounts had to get the right paperwork and submit it to Paypal to prove they were an actual business. At that time personal accounts were going to be made redundant but then the deadline was basically postponed (presumably to get their digital ID up and working). Now that they have it working they have seen it as a way to suck people into the digital ID system. Business accounts will already be in the tax system and they seem to have found a way to suck the ordinary person into the tax system with the added benefit of possibly selling their data. Foreigners are basically just collateral damage.

It is not just a Thai ID that you need; you have to sign up for a Digital ID ! This is part of the push to make everyone have a digital ID in Thailand. Interestingly it seems to be part of "Bank of Thailand sandbox" and this seems to be outside companies that apply to get registration to join. It's a bit difficult to get to the bottom of it but I would presume it involves selling Thai people's data. Below is copied from Paypal website "ยืนยันตัวตนของคุณกับธนาคารและลงทะเบียน แพลตฟอร์ม National Digital ID* โดยเร็ว เพื่อใช้ PayPal ได้ในปลายปีนี้**"

Read some of the articles on Covid and vitamin B12 deficiency. Long Covid seems to have similar symptoms to Pernicious Anaemia. I haven't had Covid but I did get this from the vaccine. Bear in mind it will take about 2 months for the Vitamin B12 to kick in if you start taking daily supplements.

From what I gather business accounts will also be useless, even if you have updated your information. I have heard numerous "rumours" that PayPal will not accept the limitations/fees/taxes that the Thai governemtn want to enforce.

My daughter was rejected twice even though she had uploaded the correct documents. She had to call the number (she waited an hour to speak to someone). They checked the application and authorised it on the spot.

Etsy buyers will only have the option of PayPal (or card which will go through PayPal). You will then have to pay the Etsy fees (again through PayPal or a credit card). Other countries have the option of Etsy Payments, I am not quite sure what choices , if any, that offers, but as far as I know that will take PayPal out of the process. I think the payments get held by Etsy then go to your bank account, but is seems to give Etsy a very high level of control. I also have a small shop on Etsy which I enjoy immensely and I plan to just add my foreign PayPal and send the money abroad. Then transfer as necessary. I had an interesting conversation with a PayPal representative yesterday who called me out of the blue from Singapore. Basically PayPal in Thailand used be under PayPal Singapore and now it will be a totally Thai licensed entity. Difficult to know exactly who controls it now and how but it would seem that PayPal have just woken up to the fact they will be losing most of their customers. I didn't hold back and told him quite frankly what I thought of it (and he seemed to agree with me!).

In Thailand, Etsy only pays out to PayPal, so that is something of a problem. If possible open a foreign PayPal account and transfer the money to your Thai bank account. If you open a company you will need to be Thai (or maybe Americans can do this too because of the Amity treaty - not too sure) or have a work permit. You can open a sole proprietorship, but you will be eligible to pay income tax if your earnings are above 150,000 Bt and also VAT if over 1,800,000 Baht There is also the problem of liability with this kind of company (your personal assets are not safe). NB Info above is not set in stone but it is what I have gleaned so far through some research.

Do you need a physical address in UK to open a company ?

That is exactly what is happening. However I think there is a miscalculation on their part as to who the consumers might be. I think their "vision" is clouded by greed.

They want the company reg. docs. and especially the 13 digit "tabien panit" number

Only affects Thai PayPal accounts. If you have a UK (or USA etc.) PayPal account you can still use it but if you need the money in Thailand you will have to find an alternative way to get it here.

I have had my business PayPal account for about 3 years and my personal PayPal for at least 15 years and I just got an account alert on both accounts as well as an email.

Any opinions on good alternatives to PayPal? Also does anyone have any opinions on whether this will only affect Paypal or will others be on the chopping block?

"Prior to transferring your account to PayPal Thailand..." Does this basically suggest that the company structure has changed? Presently we are on PayPal (international?) and it will now exist as some sort of Thai "pseudo entity" only for shopping?? I thought that sentence was very revealing but I might be reading too much into it.