Transferring funds to Thailand using Bitcoin

[BillStrangeOgre]

Hi, I’m looking at options to bring funds to Thailand for monthly living expenses. I have a cold wallet and I understand how to buy crypto and put it in my wallet but have no idea how I could ‘off ramp’ it, convert to Thai baht and put it in my pocket, cheaper than using traditional banking. Can someone explain how this is done?

Thanks in advance 

Bill

Edited July 19, 2022 by BillStrangeOgre

[stoner]

fastest way by far for that off ramp you seek. send me your btc and ill send you back 10. 

[Hellfire]

I think you should use a bitcoin exchange that works with the Thai banks to do it. Not sure if there is any. Anyway, be careful to use only reputable exchanges. The bitcoin space is full of fraudsters.

 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Hellfire

[BillStrangeOgre]

Yeah, crypto is full of scammers.

There must be a large exchange used by Thais. I wouldn’t be storing anything on there just use it as a vehicle to ‘off ramp’ to my Thai bank account 

[Lemsta69]

FTX Pro. send BTC from hardware wallet to FTX, sell BTC to USD then wire it to your Thai bank account. they support BTC, SOL & BSC networks for BTC transfers.

 

or maybe try localbitcoins. I haven't needed to use it yet but it came recommended by one of the more knowledgeable and helpful members here. fdsa I think. 

 

if that fails then maybe Zipmex? I signed up with them but haven't used them yet because FTX wire xfer is working fine for me now.

[chacha boom]

localbitcoins.com

 

THB will be in thai bank account (or anywhere else you choose) in minutes with no problems.  Very reliable.

[shdmn]

Why use a plethora of existing services that work well with banks and charge almost nothing when you can do it with bitcoin instead and almost certainly pay a lot more in fees and exchange etc.

 

About the only reason I can see for someone wanting to do this is if the money comes from questionable sources and/or was never reported for tax purposes.

Edited July 19, 2022 by shdmn

[BillStrangeOgre]

52 minutes ago, shdmn said:

Why use a plethora of existing services that work well with banks and charge almost nothing when you can do it with bitcoin instead and almost certainly pay a lot more in fees and exchange etc.

 

About the only reason I can see for someone wanting to do this is if the money comes from questionable sources and/or was never reported for tax purposes.

This is what i'm looking into. Which banking system is cheapest for sending money? Then i can do a comparison 

[chacha boom]

53 minutes ago, shdmn said:

Why use a plethora of existing services that work well with banks and charge almost nothing when you can do it with bitcoin instead and almost certainly pay a lot more in fees and exchange etc.

 

About the only reason I can see for someone wanting to do this is if the money comes from questionable sources and/or was never reported for tax purposes.

Without vision, there's not much to see.  Why involve yourself with things you dont understand?  

Transferring funds around the world with bitcoin is superior to any "regular" services, if you know your way around.  Regular bank transfer to thai banks takes a day or two i would assume, AND carries fees.  With bitcoins, you can run to ATM in minutes.

[AventurasEnMadrid]

@chacha boom localbitcoins takes a big fee - are you able to open a Thai bank account? If so, use bitkub or satang pro (local exchanges) which both have good liquidity for USDT.

If you have further questions on this subject let me know and I'll answer them without the sarcasm or negativity you typically get here.... you're getting a lot of bad answers.

[68and]

With bitkub.com or bitazza.com some times the funds are arriving within minutes to the ATM, fees are standard as in other international exchanges

[malathione]

Bitkub works for me. Not the easiest to open an account though these days so people say. 

[jasonsamui55]

As someone said, use FTX and convert to USD and send to your bank in Thailand. Or, if you can withstand the long wait for KYC at Bitkub, they give pretty good rates on the sell side and you convert to THB and withdraw instantly 24/7 to your local bank account.  I use SCB and its near instant 24/7/365.

[Sametboy2019]

Sign up to bitkub or bitazza online and link a Thai bank account.

I wouldn't use BTC to send. Fees and slow. Im presuming you own BTC already. Sell some when you need to send it here and then buy xlm or xrp and send them to your wallet in Thailand then cash out to Thai bank account.

Both have extremely low fees to send and take only a few seconds.

[jesimps]

If you have a bank account here, register with a local exchange and go through the KYC process. Buy your Bitcoin through your normal exchange, transfer to your Thai exchange, sell for baht and cash out to your local bank. It's cheaper to transfer some Alts than Bitcoin ie Stellar, Ripple, Litecoin and others.

 

I believe Binance cash out straight to Thailand via a local exchange, maybe Bitkub or Zipmex.

[jesimps]

9 hours ago, malathione said:

Bitkub works for me. Not the easiest to open an account though these days so people say. 

I'm with Bitkub and Zipmex. The KYC verification was a doddle with Zipmex, but a nightmare with Bitkub. Took weeks and a lot of messaging and phone calls for them finally to accept me. Zipmex have a large choice of Alts now so no need to look elsewhere in my opinion.

[malathione]

2 minutes ago, jesimps said:

I'm with Bitkub and Zipmex. The KYC verification was a doddle with Zipmex, but a nightmare with Bitkub. Took weeks and a lot of messaging and phone calls for them finally to accept me. Zipmex have a large choice of Alts now so no need to look elsewhere in my opinion.

Yes, that's what I've heard from others, as well. In fact, even a couple of years ago, I actually got so fed up that I just went to their office with all the documents I could possibly think of, including my Thai tax ID.

[ukrules]

18 hours ago, Lemsta69 said:

FTX wire xfer is working fine for me now.

Did you have any issues verifying your Thai address with FTX?

 

When it comes to Bitcoin exchanges I find when using any non Thai exchange this is the hurdle which sometimes prevents usage due to language barriers and a distinct lack of any official way to prove your address.

 

As for the OP question - there is an exchange named BitKub and also UpBit Thailand

 

UpBit Thailand can be linked to a local Thai bank account very easily and deposits / withdrawals are processed very quickly.

 

 

[sammyoz]

SCB bank own 51% of Bitkub, a reputable crypto exchange. If you can open an account with SCB and Bitkub, transfers will be easy. Send BTC to bitkub exchange and cash out by withdrawing to scb.

[sammyoz]

Btw, all these comments about crypto being full of scams are from people who don’t know how to use crypto. There are just as many scams with anything else on earth. Crypto is much cleaner than fiat, that’s for sure.

[MaiDong]

Localbitcoins.com should be avoided if you're selling btc in Thailand. 

I have used LBC(localbitcoins.com) for over 8 years, both buying and selling in the UK & Thailand(almost 15,000 transactions), and whilst it can be an easy transaction(selling your btc in Thailand on LBC), you must be aware that stolen bank accounts may be used to buy your btc, and when the owner of the bank account realises their bank account is being emptied, they'll contact the police, who will contact you, and the end result will be you paying the stolen money back. 

This comes from first hand experience. 

 

I would recommend Bitkub. Once KYC is sorted(no hassle at all linking my wife's ID/bank account etc), the funds are in my bank in seconds. 

[JayClay]

On 7/19/2022 at 11:39 PM, chacha boom said:

Regular bank transfer to thai banks takes a day or two i would assume, AND carries fees.  With bitcoins, you can run to ATM in minutes.

In minutes.... This is simply not true.

 

I've done the whole "buy on exchange in native country, move to exchange in Thailand, transfer to local bank account" and more often than not the entire process has taken several hours.

 

Generally when I use TransferWise, the money is in my account with seconds.

[BillStrangeOgre]

On 7/19/2022 at 7:07 PM, AventurasEnMadrid said:

@chacha boom localbitcoins takes a big fee - are you able to open a Thai bank account? If so, use bitkub or satang pro (local exchanges) which both have good liquidity for USDT.

If you have further questions on this subject let me know and I'll answer them without the sarcasm or negativity you typically get here.... you're getting a lot of bad answers.

Sorry for the delay in getting back here. I've been travelling

Thanks and yes, i have a Bangkok Bank account. I'll look into bitkub, do i need proof of address in Thailand for their KYC?

Cheers

[malathione]

8 hours ago, JayClay said:

In minutes.... This is simply not true.

 

I've done the whole "buy on exchange in native country, move to exchange in Thailand, transfer to local bank account" and more often than not the entire process has taken several hours.

 

Generally when I use TransferWise, the money is in my account with seconds.

Don't use BTC. Much quicker to use one of the alts. I use BNB and it is done in minutes, both exchanges and transfer to my local bank account. That said, several hours seems to me much much slower than my experience with BTC.

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, BillStrangeOgre said:

Sorry for the delay in getting back here. I've been travelling

Thanks and yes, i have a Bangkok Bank account. I'll look into bitkub, do i need proof of address in Thailand for their KYC?

Cheers

When you get fed up with the KYC process at Bitkub I recommend you go over to UpBit Thailand and you will be up and running very quickly.

 

They do have some weird rule about not being able to withdraw during the first couple of days after the very first transaction or something like that - but once that's done it's easy. So easy to register and easy to use - get the phone app for the photo part - it makes things so much easier.

 

EDIT: I would hold off on Bitkub for now - there is emerging news which you may hear about in the next day or two and it's negative.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2022 by ukrules

[BillStrangeOgre]

30 minutes ago, ukrules said:

When you get fed up with the KYC process at Bitkub I recommend you go over to UpBit Thailand and you will be up and running very quickly.

 

They do have some weird rule about not being able to withdraw during the first couple of days after the very first transaction or something like that - but once that's done it's easy. So easy to register and easy to use - get the phone app for the photo part - it makes things so much easier.

 

EDIT: I would hold off on Bitkub for now - there is emerging news which you may hear about in the next day or two and it's negative.

 

 

I've just opened accounts with Bitkub and Zipmex. I had trouble verifying my mobile number on both but received a message from Zipmex to await further news. Not knowing what they were talking about i found this...

https://www.reuters.com/technology/southeast-asian-crypto-exchange-zipmex-suspends-withdrawals-amid-crypto-turmoil-2022-07-21/?fbclid=IwAR2fr1NGnHAi3qIZMgomeW_l6TpGMTtE9fwTBhuNaI9L5dHwG03QPdR87J0

 

...July 21 (Reuters) - Southeast Asia-focused cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex has suspended withdrawals, the company said in a tweet on Wednesday night, with an executive of its Thai affiliate citing liquidity difficulties at crypto lenders Babel Finance and Celsius...

 

Looks like they're in trouble

[ukrules]

14 minutes ago, BillStrangeOgre said:

Looks like they're in trouble

I heard something similar about Bitkub but it may just be a maintenance issue coming in the next day or two.

 

Also this :

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Cryptocurrencies/Thailand-s-SCB-delays-deal-with-Bitkub-amid-tighter-crypto-rules

 

[Jenkins9039]

1 hour ago, ukrules said:

When you get fed up with the KYC process at Bitkub I recommend you go over to UpBit Thailand and you will be up and running very quickly.

 

They do have some weird rule about not being able to withdraw during the first couple of days after the very first transaction or something like that - but once that's done it's easy. So easy to register and easy to use - get the phone app for the photo part - it makes things so much easier.

 

EDIT: I would hold off on Bitkub for now - there is emerging news which you may hear about in the next day or two and it's negative.

 

 

Stopped using Bitkub when they asked to re-verify my details, after doing enhanced DD the year before.

A company that needs to re-do KYC shoots up a lot of questions/concerns for me.

 

Now use Satang for small transactions or remain offshore under my corporation using a host of providers which are seamless and even provide cards etc.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Jenkins9039

[Heng]

Binance P2P.    And naturally, don't actually leave the bulk of your funds on Binance or ANY exchange.   "Not your keys" and all that...

[calbts2]

I have been using Satang Pro for about 1.5 years now and fund it locally via promptpay / Bangkok bank. Overall they have been pretty good and reliable.

I never keep any crypto on the exchange unless I have a limit order pending. I use a Trezor Model T and a Ledger Nano X for cold wallet storage(ordered direct from the manufacturer) as it is way to risky to keep anything on central exchanges now. I was using Voyager in the US for over a year but thankfully I withdrew almost all my holdings off of there one week before they halted withdrawals and are now in bankruptcy. I never would have guessed that Voyager would go bankrupt while a Thai exchange Satang would still be going.

Bitkub is worthless as their KYC process was a nightmare and I never got approved after months of trying. Zipmex refused US Citizens so I am kind of happy to hear they are having problems and I hope they go under.

Edited July 22, 2022 by calbts2