With the rising interest in digital assets growing fast in the last 2 years, it is no surprise that governments are looking at ways to build their own platforms. It was not that long ago that cryptocurrencies were totally rejected by regulators but market pressure has since changed their stance.
From rejection to embrace
China has already announced (and piloted) its digital currency. Many other countries are expected to do so. While most governments were quite skeptical about cryptocurrencies in the past, they now have no choice but to get into it mainly because people will invest anyway. If you can’t beat them, you may as well join them.
Joining the crypto game
Since the interest in digital assets will not dissipate and will only increase, Malaysia could well have its first cryptocurrency too. This could be as early as 2022, according to market analysts. There has been a lot of encouraging interest from institutions wanting to be IEO (initial exchange offering) operators received by the Securities Commission (SC). Similar to ICO (initial coin offering), IEO will provide the space for businesses to raise capital and this is done through the issuing of digital tokens that can be used to exchange for fiat currency and operators are those who facility such activities. They do this in the digital asset platforms.
Regulators will then have the ability to monitor and control such events. This has been done through the revised Guidelines on Digital Assets carried out in October 2020 by the SC. Now, IEOs and DACs (digital asset custodians) can be more regulated. Firms will have to submit their applications and have 9 months to show compliance with the regulations.
To date, several public-listed companies have shown some form of interest to use ICO to raise funds. One of them is Country Heights Holdings Bhd who wants to push out their ‘Horse Currency’. With the IEO space available now, Malaysians can start investing in tech firms that are looking to use cryptos to raise funds.