The year 2019 ushered in a new era for cryptocurrency based businesses operating in Malaysia with the 2019 Order dubbed the Markets and Services coming into effect. The order categorized cryptocurrencies as securities and paved the way for the sector to be under the purview of the Malaysian Securities Commission.
With the SC having powers, it sprang into action and gave operators some grace period to seek approval from its commission or close down operations and return cash raised to investors. However, for the following Tokenize Technology, Sinergy Technologies, and Luno Malaysia, it is a happy moment since they now have the approval to conduct their business in Malaysia.
While the above three exchanges have their businesses registered by the SC, they have nine months to comply with rules and regulations put in place by the SC. Registration of the three exchanges commences cleansing of Malaysian crypto sector to put the crypto sector under proper rules and regulations. Apart from just cleaning the industry, Malaysia’s SC also imposed strict punishment for law defaulters in the crypto industry. Operating an unlicensed exchange in Malaysia will now grant you ten years in prison together with a fine of 10 million Ringgits, which is 2.4 million US dollars.
SC Published Two Papers to Get Public Feedback on its Proposals for the Initial Coin Offerings Sector
Apart from just enforcing its rules and regulations for the crypto space, the Securities Commission also issued a circular targeting to get the public’s feedback. The publication is the commission’s way of getting the public’s opinion on its regulations proposals for the Initial Coin Offering sector.
However, across the border, the Canadian Securities Administrators and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization got some negative feedback from its public circular. Kraken one of the crypto exchanges in operation in Canada disagreed with the organization proposals for regulating the crypto sector.
Further, in Japan it was also approved a bill in its move to amend two laws in the financial law act. The two laws amended are the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Funds Settlement Act. Amendments of such existing laws show governments across the globe are working to provide conducive business environments for stakeholders in the cryptocurrency industry.
