Bitcoin has been used in the Asean region to trade narcotic drugs on the "Dark Web", an encrypted network that affords users greater anonymity, according to the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).
Chalaisin Phocharoen, deputy chief of the ONCB, said an investigation uncovered links between the use of bitcoin and suspicious activities in the drug trade.
Drugs are traded online in the market and shipped through private transport operators, including those in Thailand, Singapore and South Korea, he said, stressing efforts should be made to monitor such movements in Asean.
Mr Chalaisin was speaking at the opening ceremony of the "Asean +3 Workshop on Drug Monitoring Network of the Asean Narcotics Cooperation Centre (Asean-Narco)" in Bangkok.
Some 120 delegates from 10 Asean countries, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Safe Mekong Coordination Centre (SMCC) and Committee of Substance Abuse Academic Network attended.
They gathered to test the Asean Drug Monitoring report system, which was developed by Asean member states for collecting data in connection with drug trafficking records via the Asean-Narco website.
Mr Chalaisin said the emergence of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), formed in 2015, triggered economic expansion in the region along with a burgeoning drugs trade.
Asean is the major market for methamphetamine while the use of crystal meth, heroin, marijuana and opium is also on the rise, Mr Chalaisin said.
In the region, the trafficking of two drug groups -- amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and new psychoactive substances (NPS) -- needs to be closely monitored, he said.
About 80% of the drug addicts in the Asean who have undergone drug rehabilitation were found to have used methamphetamine drugs, he said.
The number of people using NPS-related drugs, meanwhile, is on the rise.
