Malaysia Comms Ministry Tells Parliament to Adopt Cryptos like Bitcoin as Legal Tender to Engage the Youth

A Malaysia’s deputy minister, Zahidi Zainul Abidin, has spoken on behalf of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry to propose the adoption of digital currencies, such as Bitcoin (BTC), among others, as legal tender, to engage the younger generation who are active users of the new form of currency.

The deputy minister of Communications and Multimedia in the country said if cryptocurrency gains needed adoption, youths will be able to leverage crypto, especially on non-fungible token (NFT) platforms.

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According to Abidin, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia will look into ways to increase the young generation’s involvement in digital currencies, which he terms as the future of finance.

Zahidi Zainul Abidin noted:

“All of these are under the purview of Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission. We hope the government will allow and legalize this so that we can increase the youth’s uptake of cryptocurrencies.”

So far, El Salvador is the only country that has officially adopted the use of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, but with the growing interest across the world, a number of other countries may follow suit.

Although Malaysia has not previously made clear its stance on taking cryptocurrency as legal tender, it has been studying a central bank digital currency (CBDC) project with the Bank for International Settlements, Singapore, Australia, and South Africa to test cross-border CBDC transactions.

While speaking with Forkast, CEO of Fusang Corp., a Malaysia-based digital securities exchange, Henry Chong, said, “The next natural question, like any currency or any legal tender, is what can I actually buy with it? What can I do with it? What can I use it for?”

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Chong further stated that Labuan, a mid-shore jurisdiction of Malaysia where Fusang is regulated, has issued licenses to over 80 digital companies that are building an end-to-end digital ecosystem.

Henry Chong added: “A currency, as useful as it is to transfer value, is not in and of itself an investment, and the ability for people to use cryptocurrencies to invest into actual products, securities, etc., really unlocks a whole world of investments for retail investors. The next step is to get traditional financial institutions on board.”

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