Where can US citizens open an cryptocurrency account in Thailand?

[connda]

I understand that the question about how an expat in Thailand can open a cryptocurrency account in Thailand has done the rounds.  But I want to add a twist:  How does a US citizen open a cryptocurrency account in Thailand?

In many ways it sucks to be from the US.  You can plan to do everything legally:  open your account, declare the account to Treasury Department, and declare capital gains on any sales.  I'm not looking to do anything deemed illegal.  I declare everything.  I was born in the US and I will always pay my fair share of taxes.  

But!  Financial institutions world-wide are forced by rather draconian US laws to open their books to the US, and as such, some financial institutions simple say, "Forget it", and choose not to allow US customers to open accounts.  It sucks, but that's just the way it is.  For example, the Thai cryptocurrency exchange, https://bx.in.th/THB/BTC/ or Bitcoin Company Limited (Thailand) will not open accounts for US citizens.  

So, here's the question: Here in Thailand where can I open a cryptocurrency account?

I'm being specific to Thailand because I've lived here for almost 10 years.  Someone is bound to say, "Why don't you open an account in the US with Coinbase?"  The simple answer is that they require a valid, current, picture ID from the state in which you reside.  Now, having not physically been in the US since 2009, all my state issued picture ID have expired, although I still vote in the state, but your voter registration card is not a pictured ID.  And, a passport, for whatever stupid reason, is not acceptable ID.  Yes, I'm a US citizen,  I have a current Passport with a current picture, but in the US it's not considered ID - go figure.  I've asked Coinbase three weeks ago if there are other options, but I have never received an answer, nor do I expect to hear from them.  The standard reply is that they have an "unusually high customer service demand" but given that they have not contacted me I can only accept this as they are not a reliable exchange.  So I don't want to deal with them either. 
Nor do they offer the cryptocurrencies I now wish to purchase:  OMG and Ripple.  I would prefer to deal with an exchange in Thailand where I can electronically fund my cryptocurrency purchases in Thai baht from my Thai bank account.  I definitely want the electronic paper trail.  Again.  I want to report everything.  

So!  What are my options.  What exchanges in Thailand can a US citizen open an account at?  

[phycokiller]

I dont know the answer specifically but I would just buy btc using localbitcoins.com and then use the btc to buy the cryptos you want

[ColinChapman]

A friend suggests you try coins.co.th. Neither of us has ever used it but he thinks it accepts Americans

[davidst01]

Actually there is no electronic paper trail with the blockchain technology. Its more anonymous. 

 

If you were to be funding the purchase of your bitcoin using usd from a us account you could easily open an account at itBIT in the states, buy your bitcoin and send it immediately to your wallet. But I see you want to buy bitcoin using your thai funds. I dont do that as I dont trust the thai exchanges. 

 

I hope you find your solution. 

 

Why not open a coinbase account giving a thai drivers license and a thai yellow id card (the one that they give to farang over here). The thai id card for farang. 

 

Then you can give your bank statement with your thai address to get verified. They only allow small buying limits to start with but build it up. You can fund the purchases of bitcoin using your thai credit card. Pay off your credit card using your thai funds. 

 

Stop waiting and doing nothing. Proceed to try and register and get verified with coinbase. You dont have to proceed if you dont want to. 

[chingching]

I don't think coinbase will accept any body from Thailand,  

[davidst01]

3 minutes ago, chingching said:

I don't think coinbase will accept any body from Thailand,  

I just used my western passport and a thai drivers license and a statement from my pickup truck that had my thai address (when setting up my coinbase over here). It matched with the thai address that I gave when setting up my coinbase acc. 

 

The que is whether or not he could use his thai drivers license and that thai pink card (not yellow)....plus a bank statement or loan acc showing the thai address

Edited September 11, 2017 by davidst01

[ThailandLOS]

1 hour ago, ColinChapman said:

A friend suggests you try coins.co.th. Neither of us has ever used it but he thinks it accepts Americans

They don't, as they are probably looking to expand with other currencies than BTC. The issue is that these might be deemed as securities by SEC and the exchange might face liability. That's what excludes US citizens from most exchanges.

 

A way to get around this as someone mentioned is to use Localbitcoins - which is not really an exchange but still useful for buying BTC if you don't expect to do frequent trades. But that will still not solve the problem if u want to exchange for other currencies.

 

Good news for the US (and Chinese) citizens of the world is that new exchanges are on the way which don't require sign ups and will do the trading directly on blockchain. Kyber.network and Ox are examples of such high profile projects - but still some time before they go live.

 

 

[Sirikhun]

Hi there !

I'm Sirikhun from Coins.co.th. Please let me clarify a few things here:

 

We do accept US citizens unless you are from New York state. This is due to a law passed in New York state in 2015.  It doesn't affect Americans in other states, however.

 

And if you have doubt about our services, we are one of leading startups in SEA with branches in several countries: Coins.ph, Coins.my, Coins.id and are expanding. We have been operating for 3+ years. Furthermore, our headquarter, Coins.ph has just received the first Virtual Currency exchange licenses in the Philippines last week. (Proof: https://twitter.com/ronhose/status/906106912650887171 )

 

If you still feel worried about keeping funds with us, you can also send Bitcoin out to self-created BTC wallet of your choice (ex: Electrum, Armory, Trezor, etc.)

 

For any further questions, feel free to contact our customer support team at [email protected] :)

 

Sirikhun

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2017 by Sirikhun

[thongplay]

Hi connada,

Im from UK  living in Thailand and found it dead easy to open an account at https://bx.in.th/THB/BTC/ and I bought a few cryptos from there. I used my UK passport as proof of ID.

 

One problem I have is that I have to physically go down to bank in town and transfer cash to them then scan and email them the bank transfer receipt.

 

Also Ive been trying to buy Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, etc but bx.in.th only seem to serve up BTC, ETH and DAS.

 

I tried opening accounts at other exchages but either they dont permit this territory (Thailand) or they wont recongnise my ID (UK passport).

 

I tried to get registered st Coinbase but their system failed to recognise my ID. Coinbase is notorious for this and customer service is a bad joke. Steer well clear of coinbase is my suggestion. Very dodgy.

 

Im still trying to open an account at other exchanges where I can buy Vertasimo, OMG, Litecoin and Bitcoin cash and others. But its hard work.

 

BTW my cryptos rose 60% in 6 weeks.

 

[chingching]

1 hour ago, Sirikhun said:

Hi there !

I'm Sirikhun from Coins.co.th. Please let me clarify a few things here:

 

We do accept US citizens unless you are from New York state. This is due to a law passed in New York state in 2015.  It doesn't affect Americans in other states, however.

 

 

How long do you think that will stay in effect. Why do you think coins.bx.in stopped accepting Americans?   Why won't that cause you to also stop accepting Amercans? 

[Sirikhun]

10 minutes ago, chingching said:

How long do you think that will stay in effect. Why do you think coins.bx.in stopped accepting Americans?   Why won't that cause you to also stop accepting Amercans? 

Hello chingching,

Sorry, as we are a differrent company, we have no idea why BX made this decision. Their support might be able to provide the reason.

 

[bazza73]

I'm wondering why the OP even wants to go there. Bitcoin Company Limited website lists 19 different types of coins, presumably with different valuations in paper currencies.

For <deleted>'s sake, all these things are is blocks of code in a server. How can anyone say they can be confident in any one of the coin systems? How is anyone supposed to know the systems aren't being compromised or counterfeited by hackers as we speak?

Maybe these systems are created by people that are much smarter than I am. If memory serves, the GFC was brought about by Collateralised Debt Obligations and Mortgage Backed Securities - again created by people much smarter than I am.

IMHO it would be som nam na if an EMP generated by Trump in the USA or Kim in North Korea fries all the software backing bitcoin.

[Guitar God]

Try bitpanda.com. 

 

Spectrocoin I know doesn't allow U.S. residents to open accounts. 

 

I have quite a few accounts but I lost track of which ones I used my EU residence and ID's for other than Spectrocoin.  

[phycokiller]

39 minutes ago, bazza73 said:

I'm wondering why the OP even wants to go there. Bitcoin Company Limited website lists 19 different types of coins, presumably with different valuations in paper currencies.

For <deleted>'s sake, all these things are is blocks of code in a server. How can anyone say they can be confident in any one of the coin systems? How is anyone supposed to know the systems aren't being compromised or counterfeited by hackers as we speak?

Maybe these systems are created by people that are much smarter than I am. If memory serves, the GFC was brought about by Collateralised Debt Obligations and Mortgage Backed Securities - again created by people much smarter than I am.

IMHO it would be som nam na if an EMP generated by Trump in the USA or Kim in North Korea fries all the software backing bitcoin.

maybe they are smarter then you? funniest post of the day

[bazza73]

1 minute ago, phycokiller said:

maybe they are smarter then you? funniest post of the day

It doesn't matter how smart you think you are, there is always someone smarter than you.

Nice to know I've made your day enjoyable.

[connda]

21 hours ago, davidst01 said:

I just used my western passport and a thai drivers license and a statement from my pickup truck that had my thai address (when setting up my coinbase over here). It matched with the thai address that I gave when setting up my coinbase acc. 

 

The que is whether or not he could use his thai drivers license and that thai pink card (not yellow)....plus a bank statement or loan acc showing the thai address

I've tried contacting Coinbase's help desk regarding ID verification issues because their automated ID verification rejected my IDs.  Try to get ahold of a live person in the customer service department is impossible.  Absolutely no response from them at all after opening the account a month ago.  Sure, they would be my first choice, but they are completely unresponsive.  So they are not an option.  

[connda]

20 hours ago, Sirikhun said:

Hi there !

I'm Sirikhun from Coins.co.th. Please let me clarify a few things here:

 

We do accept US citizens unless you are from New York state. This is due to a law passed in New York state in 2015.  It doesn't affect Americans in other states, however.

 

And if you have doubt about our services, we are one of leading startups in SEA with branches in several countries: Coins.ph, Coins.my, Coins.id and are expanding. We have been operating for 3+ years. Furthermore, our headquarter, Coins.ph has just received the first Virtual Currency exchange licenses in the Philippines last week. (Proof: https://twitter.com/ronhose/status/906106912650887171 )

 

If you still feel worried about keeping funds with us, you can also send Bitcoin out to self-created BTC wallet of your choice (ex: Electrum, Armory, Trezor, etc.)

 

For any further questions, feel free to contact our customer support team at [email protected] :)

 

Sirikhun

 

 

 

Thank you for the clarification.  I'll be in touch!

 

[JaseTheBass]

21 hours ago, thongplay said:

Hi connada,

Im from UK  living in Thailand and found it dead easy to open an account at https://bx.in.th/THB/BTC/ and I bought a few cryptos from there. I used my UK passport as proof of ID.

 

One problem I have is that I have to physically go down to bank in town and transfer cash to them then scan and email them the bank transfer receipt.

 

Also Ive been trying to buy Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, etc but bx.in.th only seem to serve up BTC, ETH and DAS.

 

I tried opening accounts at other exchages but either they dont permit this territory (Thailand) or they wont recongnise my ID (UK passport).

 

I tried to get registered st Coinbase but their system failed to recognise my ID. Coinbase is notorious for this and customer service is a bad joke. Steer well clear of coinbase is my suggestion. Very dodgy.

 

Im still trying to open an account at other exchanges where I can buy Vertasimo, OMG, Litecoin and Bitcoin cash and others. But its hard work.

 

BTW my cryptos rose 60% in 6 weeks.

 

Once you have Bitcoins in the system, it's easy to move it around to buy other stuff. I transferred my Bitcoins from Coins.co.th to my Exodus wallet (exodus.io) and then buying ETH, OMG etc is a piece of cake.

Edited September 12, 2017 by JaseTheBass
He told me to do it...

[speedtripler]

2 hours ago, JaseTheBass said:

Once you have Bitcoins in the system, it's easy to move it around to buy other stuff. I transferred my Bitcoins from Coins.co.th to my Exodus wallet (exodus.io) and then buying ETH, OMG etc is a piece of cake.

Yes, relatively simple to buy any CryptoCurrency once you have bitcoins 

 

And relatively easy to get those from localbitcoins.com or coins.co.th 

 

I could buy from either in under a minute without getting of my chair.... 

 

After that you can choose the coins you like on coinmarketcap.com and trade the bitcoins for them... A monkey could do it

.. 

[seancbk]

On 9/11/2017 at 4:51 PM, thongplay said:

Hi connada,

Im from UK  living in Thailand and found it dead easy to open an account at https://bx.in.th/THB/BTC/ and I bought a few cryptos from there. I used my UK passport as proof of ID.

 

One problem I have is that I have to physically go down to bank in town and transfer cash to them then scan and email them the bank transfer receipt.

 

Also Ive been trying to buy Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, etc but bx.in.th only seem to serve up BTC, ETH and DAS.

 

I tried opening accounts at other exchages but either they dont permit this territory (Thailand) or they wont recongnise my ID (UK passport).

 

I tried to get registered st Coinbase but their system failed to recognise my ID. Coinbase is notorious for this and customer service is a bad joke. Steer well clear of coinbase is my suggestion. Very dodgy.

 

Im still trying to open an account at other exchanges where I can buy Vertasimo, OMG, Litecoin and Bitcoin cash and others. But its hard work.

 

BTW my cryptos rose 60% in 6 weeks.

 

You are looking in the wrong markets page on bx.in.co 

They definitely do litecoin and many others.   

 

[connda]

On 9/11/2017 at 2:48 PM, davidst01 said:

I just used my western passport and a thai drivers license and a statement from my pickup truck that had my thai address (when setting up my coinbase over here). It matched with the thai address that I gave when setting up my coinbase acc. 

 

The que is whether or not he could use his thai drivers license and that thai pink card (not yellow)....plus a bank statement or loan acc showing the thai address

Coinbase specifically states on their website that a US Passport is not adequate ID and will not be accepted.  

[speedtripler]

4 hours ago, connda said:

Coinbase specifically states on their website that a US Passport is not adequate ID and will not be accepted.  

try bittrex or kraken or poloniex ,they accept passports

maybe gemini too ,havent needed to  tried them yet