Malaysian Communications Ministry Urges Government Regulators to Adopt Crypto as Legal Tender

Malaysia's central bank is yet to announce any formal position on adopting Bitcoin as legal tender.

By Shomik Sen Bhattacharjee | Updated: 21 March 2022 18:59 IST

Malaysian Communications Ministry Urges Government Regulators to Adopt Crypto as Legal Tender

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ mkjr_

Malaysia’s finance ministry has maintained its negative stance on cryptocurrencies so far

Highlights

El Salvador is the only country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender
Crypto use is popular among Malaysian youth
Malaysia’s finance ministry has a negative stance on crypto

Malaysia's Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, KKMM, is apparently supportive of cryptocurrency adoption in the country, with the deputy minister pushing government authorities to designate crypto-assets as legal tender. Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin, Malaysia's deputy communications and multimedia minister, has encouraged Malaysia's regulators to legalise some cryptocurrency and non-fungible token (NFT) use cases. As of now, El Salvador is the only country that has accepted Bitcoin as an official means of payment inside its territory.

“We hope the government can allow this. We are trying to see how we can legalise this so that we can develop youth participation in crypto and assist them," Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Zahidi Zainul Abidin said in parliament today, according to a Bloomberg report.

Zahidi was replying to a question about the government's stance on NFT marketplaces. He added that crypto regulation is the responsibility of Malaysia's central bank and the Securities Commission.

Cricket NFT Marketplace FanCraze Raises $100 Million in Funding

The K-KOMM will now follow up on the proposal as the crypto industry exists as a “business and financial program of the future” for the youth.

It is worth noting though that crypto-assets in Malaysia currently fall under the purview of the country's central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission. The statement from the ministry is also in direct opposition to the finance ministry's stance.

Earlier this month, Malaysian finance minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz objected to the popular view that cryptos should be legalized. According to him, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether do not meet the universal characteristics of money and so exist as illegal in the country.

Australia Ramps Up Efforts to Regulate Crypto Sector, Plans Taxation

“In general, digital assets are not a good store of value and a medium of exchange. This is because digital assets are vulnerable to volatile price fluctuations due to speculative investments, the risk of theft due to cyber threats and lack of scalability,” he said in a statement to Berita Harian, a Malay-language daily newspaper.

Asus India's Arnold Su joins this week's Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, to talk about how the PC maker is planning to grow its presence in the country. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Cryptocurrency Prices across Indian exchanges

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.