In January 2019, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced the Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital Currency and Digital Token) Order 2019. The order stipulates that anyone found to be operating unapproved Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) or Digital Asset Exchanges (DAXs) would face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to RM10million.
This forced existing Digital Asset Exchanges to halt operations on new business (but existing customers of exchanges wishing to trade were not affected).
Since then, the Security Commission Malaysia (SC) laid out its framework for Digital Assets Trading with 22 exchanges applying to get a license from the Security Commission.
Announced by the Security Commission Malaysia, the first 3 digital asset exchanges, or Registered Market Operators (RMOs), to get a provisional approval from the SC to operate in Malaysia are Luno, Sinegy, and Tokenize Exchange. Here are their full details:
Registered Name: BitX Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
Website: https://www.luno.com/
Traded Cryptocurrency Listed on BNM: Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash
Profile: Luno is a leading global cryptocurrency company with over 2 million customers in 40 countries and a team of over 250. Headquartered in London, Luno operates across Africa, South East Asia and Europe.
Registered Name: Sinegy Technologies (M) Sdn. Bhd.
Website https://sinegy.com/
Traded Cryptocurrency Listed on BNM: Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash
Profile: Founded in 2018 in Penang, Malaysia by a team of Malaysians, SINEGY has transacted over RM 64 million since. SINEGY is committed to make it safe and simple for everyone to buy, sell and trade Digital Assets such as Bitcoin, Ether and more.
Registered Name: Tokenize Technology (M) Sdn. Bhd
Website https://tokenize.exchange/
Traded Cryptocurrency Listed on BNM: Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin
Profile: Tokenize Exchange is cryptocurrency trading platform based in Singapore that enables its users to trade both upcoming and existing digital currencies with over 100,000 customers.
According to the SC’s announcement “The SC has given the new RMOs up to nine months to fully comply with all regulatory requirements.”
This is an exciting and important development for the blockchain and cryptocurrency market in Malaysia. With the growth of any emerging technology, uncertainty will always exist until regulation is put into place.
The SC’s move to regulate the market, and thus establish licenses for RMOs is a step in the right direction. This will help to accelerate adoption and innovation for the region. As Wei Chi Chan, co-founder and Head of Business Development at Sinegy shared at our Blockchain & Cryptocurrency event, “Regulation, if done correctly, will accelerate growth of adoption.”
We await to see which of the remaining 19 applicants will be registered. For those of you who are interested in purchasing cryptocurrency, the SC has setup a page where you can easily check which exchanges are registered. Before you sign up to an exchange platform, be sure to check out the SC page first to make sure you are signing up with a registered platform.