No Ban? Malaysia’s Securities Watchdog Plans Cryptocurrency Regulation

Malaysia’s statutory securities regulator and watchdog has revealed plans toward regulations for cryptocurrency trading in the country.

In a speech on Monday at the SCxSC Digital Finance Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia chairman Ranjit Ajit Singh underlined the progress made in fostering and developing financial technologies in digital markets, following the commission’s ‘Digital Markets Strategy’ earlier this year.

Ranjit went on to add that the authority is keeping an eye on the cryptocurrency trading space by “reviewing relevant regulations and guidelines to facilitate functional and effective use cases of digital assets in the capital market” with the regulatory oversight extending to “secondary market trading of established cryptocurrency and digital assets.”

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the FinTech conference, Ranjit stated:

The interest level and demand for cryptocurrency is on the rise and it is important for the regulators to acknowledge and embrace this trend…We hope to be able to have it [regulations]in a few months, but I am hesitating to give a specific timeframe.

The regulatory official revealed the Malaysian SC is looking at templates adopted by other regulatory counterparts globally before outlining its own framework.

Ranjit also confirmed that the regulator was working with Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’ central bank, toward developing and installing the framework in the coming months.

Together with the BNM, we will look at the area carefully to apply the right framework. The SC is in charge of secondary markets, therefore our position on the cryptocurrency trading is to craft regulations that the trading venues have the right conditions in place for market integrity, as well as investor protection purposes.

The move toward regulations will come as a relief for the country’s cryptocurrency traders, both retail and institutional after the central bank refused to rule out a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies less than a month ago.

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