A Bitcoin startup based in Thailand now says that it has suspended all operations because the Bank of Thailand has effectively banned bitcoins in the southeast Asian country. As Bitcoin Co. Ltd. reports:

At the conclusion of the meeting, senior members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department advised that due to lack of existing applicable laws, capital controls, and the fact that Bitcoin straddles multiple financial facets 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

This appears to be the first time that any country has outright banned the digital crypto currency. Further, it remains unclear exactly how Thailand would even enforce such a ban.

Ars has been unable to confirm the ban with the Bank of Thailand, when this ban goes into effect, and how this decision came about. Bank representatives did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.

“A ban would not surprise me since Thailand has never been shy about censoring the Internet in the name of public order and morals,” Jerry Brito, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told Ars by e-mail.