Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has announced that they will start regulating cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings as securities. Crypto exchanges and service providers will be required to get authorization from Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). The commission will be working with the Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank, to ensure full compliance.
According to the Finance Minister, the country will regulate the trade of crypto and ICOs. He added that an order to recognize digital currencies and digital tokens as securities will come into force starting today, the 15th of January, under the regulation of the SC.
The order was called, “the Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital CUrrency and Digital Token) Order 2019.”
It is reported that the SC will put guidelines in place to regulate crypto trading and offering of digital assets. The minister and the regulator stressed that crypto trading and offering of digitals assets will require authorisation from the SC and compliance with the relevant securities laws and regulation. However, the relevant regulatory framework is expected to be launched by the end of the first quarter of 2019.
Lim even stated that noncompliance will result in punishment, on conviction, with imprisonment not exceeding 10 years and fine not exceeding RM10,000,000 (~$2.44 million).