KUALA LUMPUR – Market regulators are urged to formulate a clear cryptocurrency regulatory framework to facilitate the participation of institutions, said MX Global Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Fadzli Shah.
Fadzli said the regulation and licensing pathway is the crux of the problem, which may slow down the adoption of cryptocurrency for institutions in Malaysia.
“In the Malaysian context, crypto is treated as securities and naturally falls under the Securities Commission Malaysia. However, there is always an element of optimisation and so that falls under the central bank (Bank Negara Malaysia).
“So in jurisdictions like Malaysia when the two regulators are not aligned, corporates want clarity about it. As such, it will really slow down institutional adoption tremendously,” he said during a panel session titled “Institutional Crypto Trading in Asean” at the Invest Asean 2022 Conference today.
The conference, hosted by Malayan Banking Bhd, was held from June 8-9 in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, and Ho Chi Minh City, in a hybrid approach.
Meanwhile, Talos head of Asia-Pacific Samar Sen said he believes regulations will play a main role in the crypto space going forward to become a responsible ecosystem for frontier markets.
He emphasised the importance of regulatory compliance and urged the investors to get involved in the cryptocurrency space in a safe and secure manner.
“Different regulators will legislate differently and now what I have seen overall is that different countries are moving at different paces, which is a bit frustrating.
“Therefore, we need education and upskilling in all areas, whether it’s the people’s compliance and the leadership of the different financial institutions in cryptocurrency,” he said.
“It is a very delicate balance of allowing innovation and building the future of finance while at the same time protecting investors from bad things,” he added. – Bernama, June 9, 2022