Now That Dust Is Settling, Best Way To Xfer Funds From US To Thailand?

[quandow]

In light of all the new immigration rules, I'm sure many have scurried to satisfy retirement requirements.

 

1. What is the current best way to transfer $25,000 US to Bank of Bangkok?

Can I transfer to the New York branch and it will then associate with my Thai bank?

 

2. What is the current best way to transfer $2,000 US monthly to Bank of Bangkok that will make Jomtien immigration happy?

[JimmyTheMook]

Open US Bank account - get SWIFT code - send to THAI Banks act# using that SWIFT CODE.

 

 

[AndyWeickinger]

Transfer via Bitcoin

and pay it out here in Thailand via coins.th

takes a few min to send , to receive and pay out

[lopburi3]

5 minutes ago, AndyWeickinger said:

Transfer via Bitcoin

and pay it out here in Thailand via coins.th

takes a few min to send , to receive and pay out

Nonsense post.  The aim is to have clear tracking for money sent here.

[lopburi3]

As said current safe method is SWIFT transfer direct to a Thailand based bank.

 

You can not use Bangkok Bank New York for other than direct deposit of government pension payments as banks do not transfer using the required international ACH format within USA.

 

 

[muffy]

I write a check and wait 30 days , of course I don't need the money .

[gentlemanjackdarby]

11 hours ago, AndyWeickinger said:

Transfer via Bitcoin

and pay it out here in Thailand via coins.th

takes a few min to send , to receive and pay out

The fees involved in converting fiat money into BTC and back again would be an incredible waste of money and much more expensive than a plain-old wire (SWIFT) transfer

 

If one's U.S. bank charges around the average for a wire (SWIFT) transfer of USD 50, the cost for the transfer would be about 0.2 percent (O.002), i.e., two tenths of one percent

 

And you'll get a nice paper trail to prove the money came from outside the country, legally, if down the road, you wish to transfer your funds out of Thailand

 

It's also my understanding that BTC exchanges in Thailand may cancel one's account if one transfers BTC from outside the country to one's account, i.e., use BTC to make international money transfers

 

It makes me worry about the future of BTC when the BTC fanboys gives such poor financial and legal advice, but mostly it's the financial advice that bothers me

[wimpy]

9 hours ago, gentlemanjackdarby said:

It's also my understanding that BTC exchanges in Thailand may cancel one's account if one transfers BTC from outside the country to one's account, i.e., use BTC to make international money transfers

How would they possibly know where the bitcoin came from?

[JackThompson]

11 hours ago, gentlemanjackdarby said:

The fees involved in converting fiat money into BTC and back again would be an incredible waste of money and much more expensive than a plain-old wire (SWIFT) transfer

BTC transactions are expensive.  For other crypto-coins with a better-designed transaction system, the fees are lower - but your point about the % in this case, given the OP is making a large transfer is on-point for the OP's #1 case.

And, for the OP's #2

23 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

The aim is to have clear tracking for money sent here.

... if you need to prove it for immigration purposes.  BTC is not a good choice for this.

 

1 hour ago, wimpy said:

How would they possibly know where the bitcoin came from?

They would know if you funded the coins into your account by buying the coins on their exchange via payment in fiat from a Thai bank.  But, I do think it is odd if they don't allow coins from other sources to be added to one's account w/o issues.  Maybe there is a limit over time of some sort as a money-laundering limiter?  OT, anyhow.

Edited March 20, 2019 by JackThompson

[wimpy]

1 hour ago, JackThompson said:

They would know if you funded the coins into your account by buying the coins on their exchange via payment in fiat from a Thai bank.  But, I do think it is odd if they don't allow coins from other sources to be added to one's account w/o issues.  Maybe there is a limit over time of some sort as a money-laundering limiter?  OT, anyhow.

We have a crypto trading account with a Thai broker. Can transfer transfer whatever currency into or out of it with ease. Be it baht, or any of about 30 different cryptos.

[gentlemanjackdarby]

6 hours ago, wimpy said:

How would they possibly know where the bitcoin came from?

I don't want to hijack the thread and I'd be happy to participate in a BTC and digital currencies technical discussion in a another thread, but I think your question deserves a brief (by my standards and BTC in general) reply:

 

 Most people think that BTC and other digital currencies are anonymous, but they're really only pseudo-anonymous

 

One of the strengths of digital currencies, for those who care at this stage of the game, is the fact that there is no central authority 'in charge' of it as there is, for example, with the U.S. Federal Reserve and the USD

 

The way that digital currencies enforce trust among the users of them since there is no central authority acting as a 'referee' of the 'market', is via the ledger, in which each and every transaction, from the beginning of BTC time, is recorded and which is replicated among all participants in the market AND which anyone who cares to can review.

 

So unlike, for example, paying someone in cash for professional services rendered which, if it's recorded at all, might only be recorded among the participants, every BTC transaction is recorded in the ledger and the ledger is replicated, ensuring that no disaster or official action will ever destroy it and that every transaction is available to anyone who cares to review it.

 

Although transactions are recorded in the ledger using the participants' BTC wallet address and not the participants names, it's possible, because of sloppy practices on the part of participants, to 'tie' a BTC wallet to a real-world individual.

 

Of course, because everyone can review the ledger, it's also possible for BTC exchanges, as well as others, to follow-back the trail of a particular BTC, without knowing or caring who is the owner, to see its history, for example, to see if it was ever used in an 'illegal' transaction or if it was ever used by members of a particular exchange, for example, a U.S.-based exchange.

 

Because BTC exchanges operate without official oversight and regulation, and by no stretch of the imagination can be considered either independent or transparent, exchanges can pretty much do what they like with one's BTC while those BTC are held by the exchange (and sooner or later, even if one holds one's BTC off-exchange and in cold storage until needed, almost everyone will need to use an exchange), i.e., if an exchange in Thailand saw that a particular BTC was used on or originates from (an) exchange(s) outside Thailand, that exchange could 'freeze' that BTC and not allow further transactions or even return it to its owner. There have been reports of U.S. exchanges 'freezing' BTC that, according to them, was used in an illegal transaction somewhere in the past; there have also been reports of merchants refusing to accept BTC that have been used in transactions in the past that they deem 'unsavory' 

 

 

[gentlemanjackdarby]

5 hours ago, wimpy said:

We have a crypto trading account with a Thai broker. Can transfer transfer whatever currency into or out of it with ease. Be it baht, or any of about 30 different cryptos.

I'd be interested in knowing the broker that you're using, if you'd care to name them.

 

I had been looking into using BTC as a method of transferring money, primarily to determine if it was less expensive than other means (it isn't), when I ran into the disclosure in their terms of service on coin.co.th about transferring BTC from outside Thailand

 

I can understand why a broker or a BTC exchange would not care about transferring currencies into an account to buy BTC, since those transfers would go through existing, well-established channels (banks for SWIFT transfers, currency exchanges for cash, Transferwise, etc.) and those that control those channels would get their fees.

 

As well, those brokers and BTC exchanges would earn a hefty commission on both the purchase and sale of BTC, since the bid/ask spread is huge on every exchange at which I've looked, both in the U.S. and in Thailand.

 

As for converting BTC 'earned' outside Thailand into THB using a Thailand BTC exchange, I can certainly see why folks other than those who own and control the BTC exchanges would be keen to stop that method - no fees for them!