Malaysian Ministry Suggests Making Crypto Legal Tender To Promote It Among Youth

In a bid to enhance the financial inclusion of young people, the Malaysian Ministry of Communications and Multimedia has proposed to the country’s authorities to designate cryptoassets as Malaysia’s legal tender.

Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin, Malaysia’s Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister, said the ministry was looking into ways to encourage the country’s youth to become interested in crypto, local daily The Star reported.

“We hope the government will allow and legalize this so that we can increase the youth’s uptake of cryptocurrencies,” the deputy minister said, adding that crypto was overseen by Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank, and the Securities Commission Malaysia, its financial markets regulator.

The official made his statement at the Dewan Rakyat, the lower chamber of the Malaysian parliament, in response to a question posed by Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh from the opposition Alliance of Hope bloc. The MP asked the deputy minister about the government’s stance on non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which have become increasingly popular among Malaysia’s youth.

The latest development could signal the country’s authorities aim to create a more crypto-friendly regulatory framework in the Malaysian market which could potentially attract major industry players to the South-East Asian nation.

Meanwhile, in July 2021, the Securities Commission Malaysia said it was taking “enforcement actions” against crypto exchange giant Binance for “illegally operating a digital asset exchange (DAX)”. The regulator accused Binance of violating the country’s 2007 Capital Markets and Services Act by operating a DAX without the required operating permit. Despite this setback, Binance invested in a local digital asset exchange MX Global.

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