chepicap.com
Thailand has seen a major surge in BTC trading volume recently. There has been an increase of around 250%, following a recent incident involving a BTC trader's offshore home being raided by the Thai navy.
American millionaire Bitcoin investor Chad Elwartowski and his Thai girlfriend Supranee Thepdet were forced to go into hiding a few weeks ago, after their 'seasteading' settlement off the coast of Thailand was judged to be an illegal effort to circumvent the nation's naval sovereignty, with the death penalty being considered as a possibility.
The couple's floating home was built by Ocean Builders, a group of wealthy people invested in the 'seasteading' lifestyle. It was eventually raided by the Thai navy, who are now considering ways to tow it back to shore.
Possibly as a result of this Bitcoin-related story making international headlines, Thailand saw a major surge in BTC trading activity. The volume on peer-to-peer platform LocalBitcoins spiked to a level not seen since 2016. 417 BTC, worth around 70 million Thai Baht, has been traded in the last week.