Malaysia’s Communications Ministry proposes adopting crypto as legal tender

The Ministry of Communication and Multimedia in Malaysia has proposed the adoption of digital currencies as legal tender in the country. The idea was put forth because of the surge in the number of youths active in the field of cryptocurrencies in the country.

The proposal by the ministry was also shared on Twitter by the co-founder and CEO of the hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital Ltd., Zhu Su.

Targeting the younger generation

In line with the proposal, Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin, the Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister said that cryptocurrencies are termed as the future of finance.

In reply to a supplementary question asked by Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (March 21) about the government’s stand on trading on NFT platforms, which was becoming more popular, especially among the younger generation, Zahidi said:

 “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."

Datuk also added that there are plans to increase engagement around crypto and non-fungible (NFT) trading platforms.

Countries and crypto legal tenders

While most of the countries around the world are currently working on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) there are several countries and cities that have suggested making the already existing cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin (BTC) legal tenders.

The first country to do so was El Salvador and while there has not been any other country that has succeeded in doing so, we could see the likes of Malaysia joining the club.