Pornchai Theeravej, finance and economics adviser to the Fiscal Policy Office, said people should be aware of the dangers of investing in digital currencies as some schemes promised unreasonably high returns similar to Ponzi schemes. He also warned that people who deceive others could be charged with fraud.

The value of digital currencies had been highly volatile, he said, apparently referring to the fluctuating value of bitcoin on the global market.

Thailand and other countries had not yet legalised digital currencies as a means of financial payments, he added. The Finance Ministry, Bank of Thailand, Securities and Exchange Commission and Anti-Money Laundering Office were working together to find effective measures for dealing with digital currencies, he said.

Other popular cryptocurrencies besides bitcoin include Ethereum and Litecoin, both of which use blockchain technology in their underlying software.