Topic: [2017-09-24] Malaysia’s Legalization of BTC Could Bring Millions of New Users (Read 485 times)

Once the Malaysia's government legalized BTC, I bet more and more Malaysians are going to get involved with BTC in near future... 

I disagree with you. Since when did bitcoin's status as an unregulated currency deter everyone of us in the cryptospace from buying it, holding it, selling it and trading it with altcoins and all the other crazy things we do with it?

In Malaysia there was simply no interest in it. Compare that with China which has a more tyrannical government. The people in China are more bitcoin crazy than most countries because the interest is there. Regulations and bans will stifle that.

If then meant that they are regulating it like the Philippines, then taxation is unavoidable. However, this is still welcoming news for everyone that lives in Malaysia, and I'm pretty sure that there are thousands bitcoin enthusiast there, similar to Philippines, but when the Central Bank of the Philippines started acknowledged bitcoin, the Philippines increases its number of users specially in the remittance sector. We all know that there are a lot of Malaysia's abroad so sending money would not difficult if they used bitcoin->ringgit conversion. Let's see how this story evolved specially in 2018.

Good to hear news like that in the time when most news are coming from Chine and deflate the value of bitcoin.
I just hope that regulation of bitcoin in Malaysia will not mean taxation of fiat-bitcoin trading.

While unregulated, Malaysia already has been for almost a year now the top 10 fastest growing countries in terms of bitcoin trading volume (Localbitcoins). But if you consider the official current stance of the central bank since 2014, which warns citizens to use Bitcoin at their own risk, then surely you could understand that a lot of people would simply take this advice at face value.

Think about what regulation means for the average Malaysian. You walk into a bank, or money changer, and you see them proudly showing off their license to take Bitcoin. Maybe this alone gives exposure.

I think there is something you don't understand fully here. Of course, if the market is unregulated anybody can just come in and get out without any repercussions whatsoever. The problem is that you still have the government as part of the equation as it has the power to grant permit for operation of any business related to cryptocurrency. And this is where the problem is. China has shown how effective a country can be when it comes to exercising its state power.

The reason there can be an uptick of users and maybe also traders for Bitcoin if the country (in this case Malaysia) would formally recognize Bitcoin is the fact that people would not anymore be afraid to be a part of a platform they see as lucrative like Bitcoin. We are talking of money here and if anyone feels that what they are doing can be risky because anytime the government can be at their back, then do you think people would join Bitcoin by big numbers? I don't think so.

Regulation is much better than the ban imposed by China...that is the fact and reality we have to faced in this world we are in and Bitcoin does not have a magic wand that can delete the government anytime we wish.

Finally Malaysia became the next country in Asia that legalized bitcoin, I think the Malaysian government sees opportunities from cryptocurrency so they quickly take the right decision. If indeed this will make bitcoin users increase in that country, it will be very good for bitcoin development, I am waiting for other countries to be able to follow in the steps of this country.

How could bitcoin regulations bring millions of new users from Malaysia? Unregulated bitcoin should have brought in millions of Malaysian users anyway if the interest was there.

If there is something with these regulations, it is to control and limit bitcoin's accessibility to the common people.

I am fairly sure that if we have taken care of the hard fork that we may or may not see become reality in November, we have basically dealt with all obstacles that could *temporarily* disturb Bitcoin's growth.

If we also take into consideration that we in 2018 are another year closer to the block halving, which will result in the number of coins that are being 'pumped' into circulation to shrink even further.

If people are looking to benefit from a lower price in the runup to November, they should do their buying carefully in the coming months, because this might be the last time in a long period of bullish'ness that we can get such discounts.

It's been a long time coming but it should not come as a surprise to anyone in Southeast Asian finance. Even the central bank and SEC's previous comments on Bitcoin have been fairly innocuous - at worst neutral. There's also been a lot of silent backroom discussions with Bank Negara Malaysia in the months since the first blockchain conference in June. With another scheduled for November, looks like 2018 is all clear for Bitcoin.

Earlier this week, Cryptocoinsnews reported that the Malaysian government and its financial regulators are set to regulate the Malaysian bitcoin industry and legalize the usage of the digital currency within the country.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Muhammad bin Ibrahim, a Malaysian central bank official, stated:

“We hope that by year end, BNM will be able to come out with some guidelines on cryptocurrency, particularly those related to anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. We want to ensure that there are clear guidelines for those who want to participate in this sector.”

Why Malaysia’s Potential Legalization of BItcoin is a Big Deal

For many years, the Malaysian government and its central bank have imposed strict capital controls and restricted the outflow of the Malaysian ringgit outside of the country. Consequently, expat workers in Malaysia have struggled to send large sums of money or remittances to their families overseas.

In late 2016, the Malaysian government was hit hard with the massive devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit. In a short period of time, the country’s national currency declined by around 2 percent in value against the world’s largest reserve currencies such as the US dollar. As a temporary solution, BNM and commercial banks imposed strict capital controls, prohibiting any offshore trading of the Malaysian ringgit and derivatives.

Several large-scale multi-billion dollar Western commercial banks were threatened by BNM and the country’s financial regulators of repatriation. According to an executive of a major Western bank who requested to anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, the Malaysian central bank demanded commercial banks to comply with the capital controls and new regulations. BNM also told the banks that the failure to comply to newly established regulatory frameworks will result in the central bank disallowing commercial banks to move their investments and money outside of Malaysia.

“There’s a massive back and forth going on between banks and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) now. This is a type of indirect capital control … I see a flood of people exiting Malaysia,” a banker at a foreign bank in Malaysia which deals in foreign currency transactions told Reuters in an interview.

Since then, for the past 10 months, both commercial banks and remittance service providers have been subjected to strict capital controls and inefficient regulations. Expat workers have been struggling to search for secure and cheap methods of sending money back to their families in their home countries.

The legalization of bitcoin in Malaysia could provide an alternative financial and remittance system to expat workers and foreign investors to move money out of the country efficiently. Already, leading bitcoin remittance service providers and brokerages such as Coins.ph, which recently secured $19 million in funding from leading venture capital firms including Nasper, have expanded their operations to Malaysia.

Through the decentralized network of bitcoin, expat workers will be able to send money back to their families. Most countries in Asia including the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea have evolved into established and well regulated bitcoin markets.

Increasing Usage of Bitcoin as a Remittance Method in Southeast Asia

In countries like the Philippines, many workers and expat employees utilize bitcoin platforms to send remittances. WIthin two years of operation, Coins.ph has gained millions of new active users that are using the Coins.ph platform to send money, settle utility bills, purchase goods and bitcoin.

Philippine bitcoin startups were able to grow at an exponential rate due to the Philippine government’s legalization of bitcoin as a remittance network. In February, Bankgko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the cnetral bank of the Philippines, announced:

“The Bangko Sentral does not intend to endorse any VC, such as Bitcoin, as a currency since it is neither issued or guaranteed by a central bank nor backed by any commodity. Rather, the BSP aims to regulate VCs when used for delivery of financial services, particularly, for payments and remittances, which have a material impact on anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT), consumer protection and financial stability.”

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/how-malaysias-legalization-of-bitcoin-could-bring-millions-of-new-users/