The Governor of Malaysia’s Central Bank recently revealed that the country might soon introduce a blanket ban on all cryptocurrency activity.
While Malaysia’s financial organizations have been developing tips for cryptocurrencies, experts have noted that a blanket ban might also be in the works.
The governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), governor Muhammad, recently addressed reporters during the Ninth International Conference on monetary Crime and terrorist act funding in Malaysia. The governor addressed reporters and contained his address to the area of the coming laws and regulations for the cryptocurrency industry.
According to The Malaysian Insight, the governor did not completely rule out a blanket ban on cryptocurrency activity.
Reports stated that the governor mentioned that the ban is something which will be decided towards the end of 2017. The governor stated that the BNM will announce the country’s official policy towards cryptocurrencies towards the end of the year.
This statement follows several governments looking towards increasing their regulatory policies in cryptocurrency activity. China recently installed a ban against domestic cryptocurrency trading as well as initial coin offerings (ICOs). This bold move by the People’s Bank of China resulted in the shuttering of all bitcoin exchanging platforms in Red China. Experts have speculated that several other Asian countries may soon follow China’s lead.
However, it remains unlikely that Malaysia would incorporate a similarly strict ban. According to CCN, Ibrahim stated that the BNM hopes to develop and incorporate guidelines towards the end of the year in regards to cryptocurrency. The main concern for the BNM at present remains the prospects of money laundering and terrorist funding that cryptocurrencies offer. The BNM will work to establish guidelines in order to minimize any crime that could result from cryptocurrencies.
However, the guidelines could also prove to be rigid rules set in place to regulate the cryptocurrency market. Overly rigid guidelines could include collecting user information and recording what exactly is done with cryptocurrency.
Many experts have speculated that rigid rules might cripple the immense growth in market value that cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin, have hitherto experienced.
The last official stance of the BNM on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies was made explicit during 2014. In this stance, the bank declared that they did not regulate any operations pertaining to bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. The bank also did not at the time recognize bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as a valid monetary system.
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