BitPay 1 BTCUSDHow we calculate this rate1 BTCUS DollarEurozone EuroPound SterlingCanadian DollarChinese Yuan  BitPay has relationships with many bitcoin exchanges around the world, but we only utilize exchanges which meet our operational and regulatory requirements.When calculating our exchange rates for BitPay invoices, we only incorporate rates of bitcoin exchanges which meet our regulatory, operational, and market depth requirements.To calculate the exchange rate for US Dollars, we typically pull the market depth from an exchange with adequate liquidity and reliable withdrawal capabilities in the USA and Eurozone.We factor "slippage" into our exchange rates, which means that the larger the value of the invoice, the lower the exchange rate.Slippage is usually only noticeable on very large invoices.We set exchange rates for non-USD currencies indirectly using the Open Exchange Rates API.In the future, as Bitcoin markets in non-USD currencies mature, BitPay will use those markets directly.The BitPay exchange rate is available via JSON API.all rates | single rateRates are updated every 1 minute.Get StartedJoin the world's most trusted bitcoin payment platform.Accept BitcoinStart Tour

Virtual currency bitcoin has been banned in Thailand, according to a prominent bitcoin exchange that operates in the Southeast Asian country.According to Bitcoin Co., a Bangkok-based website that trades the digital currency, it had been in the process of registering with governmental agencies but the application was turned down and the currency has now been made illegal.Bitcoin is a virtual currency that allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services.While there is no central bank that issues them, bitcoins can be created online by using a computer to complete difficult tasks, a process known as mining.(Read more: Beware of Bitcoin related Ponzi schemes, says SEC) Thailand's central bank initially bypassed the Bitcoin Co.'smoney exchange license on the basis that bitcoin was not a currency, the exchange said.It was given the opportunity to present the merits of the currency to the central bank on Monday but was given news of the move to outlaw it shortly afterwards.

"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," a statement on Bitcoin Co.'swebsite said on Monday.The currency exchange said it has been told that buying and selling bitcoins is illegal, as well as sending or receiving the currency from other jurisdictions.(Read more: Bitcoin ATM gets ready for roll out) "Based on such a broad and encompassing advisement, Bitcoin Co.therefore has no choice but to suspend operations until such as time that the laws in Thailand are updated to account for the existence of bitcoin.The Bank of Thailand has said they will further consider the issue, but did not give any specific timeline," it said.The Bank of Thailand, the country's central bank, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Tuesday.

Two other Thai bitcoin exchanges, Bahtcoin and Coinmill, both remained open Tuesday.(Read more: Critics unfriend Facebook twins' bitcoin fund) Bitcoin has attracted attention from regulators around the globe.bitcoin nekadarIn June, not-for-profit organization the Bitcoin Foundation was sent a "cease and desist" letter from California's financial regulator.bitcoin entropayIn May, major currency exchange Mt.make bitcoin cloneGox made moves to placate regulators by altering its code of conduct after the U.S.bitcoin pc minergovernment seized two accounts associated with the firm.buy bitcoin on poloniex

In the same month, an indictment was filed by U.S.prosecutors against an alternative currency exchange called Liberty Reserve that accused the Costa Rica-based company of helping criminals around the world to launder illicit funds.cena na bitcoinFollow him on Twitter @mattclinch81bitcoin market nederlandI’m planning to live in Thailand for a year or so and on last September I decided to take a plane to Bangkok so I could see for myself if the country was as good as I was imagining — by the way, it is — before I got my one year visa and bought a plane ticket with no return date because I don’t do stupid things… Yeah… Sure.And there I was, excited about going to Thailand with my Etihad ticket and ready to take twenty one hours of flight with an one hour connection in Abu Dhabi.bitcoin inventor killed

Then I took 5,000 BRL (brazilian real) from my bank account which was worth something around 2,300 USD (U.S.dollar) at that time so I wouldn’t have to pay around 7% in taxes charged by Brazil’s government for international credit card payments and transfers.Twenty one hours long story short, I arrived in Thailand… Yay!I bought something to eat with the dollars I had exchanged for brazilian real in Abu Dahbi — I had around 40 dollars — and I just needed to exchange the rest of my BRL for the THB (thai baht) in some exchange.And this was my short conversation with a polite thai lady in the exchange at the BKK airport when I showed her my money:“Bangkok is big and crazy, and has everything everybody needs” I was confidently thinking.bitcoin worker scoreWhen she says:I also tried many other exchanges and banks (took my whole day) but the exchange lady was right and I was kind of fucked.Summary of my situation: for myself in Thailand with something around 40 USD, mostly useless 5,000 BRL and without a thai bank account to send money from Brazil if I got desperate and accepted to pay all the expensive taxes and fees.I was kind of fine with the situation.

I do not react bad to difficult situations because it’s useless and I was confident that I would find some way to fix things — like working in some hostel and other places or some other opportunity I could create — but my trip in Thailand would get very limited.In fact, I must admit I was already walking around Bangkok paying attention to some potential good places to sleep on the streets if I did not succeed in creating a solution for my money problem before I ran out of the 40 dollars I had.Okay, I had one possible solution — not the only one, of course— before selling my kidney… Bitcoin!And I was really excited about succeeding with this one since I study and work with it for sometime now and I would not have to pay 7% taxes to brazilian government for a simple money transfer just because.I also had three major obstacles:It was night after I walked around Bangkok trying to exchange my money which was a bad experience because I was feeling seasickness effects from the flight and doing this by foot was only possible because I travel light.I got the cheapest street food I could find and a crappy room on Khaosan Road to stay for the night.

I made sure they had Wi-Fi so I could find a local bitcoin exchanger and contact somebody I could trust in Brazil to send my bitcoins to my mobile phone wallet.I used LocalBitcoins — a site to find local exchangers — to find a local exchanger who could do it personally and I found the user femmecoins who has many good feedbacks and a good price.I skyped femmecoins, explained what I needed, femmecoins made clear that only exchanged personally if it was 2 bitcoins or more, and we scheduled a day and a time to exchange the money.Then, I skyped a trusted person to ask her to access one of my wallets in Brazil, give her instructions of how to do it with my computer and “send” the bitcoins I needed to access with my mobile phone wallet.After having the bitcoins available with my mobile phone wallet, it was time to send my bitcoins to LocalBitcoins but my mobile phone wallet app just raised an error and closed for more than three times… Okay, I was really fucked (Good: I had a backup for my mobile wallet so I would not have lost the bitcoins in anyway.

Bad: The backup was 21 hours away by plane.So now I closed my eyes, had a serious conversation with my phone, rebooted it, tried to open my wallet app again and… Yes!And I was still on the game.By the way, here’s the address that I used to receive my bitcoins in Thailand with all the transactions listed below.My transactions bottom-up:*Note that these test transactions were not really needed or very logical but I chose the most inefficient route when a bit afraid of losing the chance to get this right soon.I was good to go and femmecoins fastly confirmed the meeting with me in a Starbucks.I just needed a thai phone number to be able to call femmecoins if needed; we ended up just exchanging some SMS messages and that was enough.Finally, the easy part: the exchange.I arrived at the Starbucks we agreed.As soon as I got to there professional looking girl asked me if it was me who was going to exchange the bitcoins, we got two coffees and took a seat in a sofa to settle the transaction.She started to count tens of thousands baht, then I did the same and, finally, released the bitcoins to femmecoins’ wallet on LocalBitcoins… Fast and easy.I was relieved and with a bunch of thai money plus useless brazilian paper I had to protect for over a month.

After the transaction was done I was very relaxed and just comfortably enjoyed my coffee and a very clever conversation with my dear exchanger about how governments and banks suck, and about crypto-currencies’ — and other innovations — huge potential in our world.I was safe to enjoy the rest of my journey.:)The purpose of this post is not specifically explain crypto-currencies’ potential but notice that I could securely receive money on the other side of the planet and exchange it for local currency with no useless permissions and explanations needed from centralized authorities.One other special thing was to see the currency I use everyday in Brazil being looked as a piece of worthless paper by everyone in the exchanges and banks… Because, after all, that’s all it was!My money was just a piece of worthless paper and worthless is what every currency in the world is until we agree — or are forced to ~agree~ — giving it a value.I already knew that very, very well thanks to my studies on economics but living that in the real world was one of the greatest and most frustrating classes about money and its value I could ever have.So, yes, I put my bet on a cryptographically backed and secured decentralized technology to serve the people as a currency and more instead of an over printed — thus over inflated — currency which is only going to be worth less and less over time, and is backed by nothing but the private interests of politicians and their fellow cronies.When possible… I opt out of supporting a system which is broken by design.