Malaysian Finance Minister: Crypto Will Not Become Legal Tender

Cryptocurrencies will not become legal tender in Malaysia, the country’s deputy finance minister said Thursday (March 24).

As Bloomberg reported, Minister I Mohd Shahar Abdullah told Malaysia’s parliament that there were too many limitations on digital currencies such as bitcoin to use them as a payment instrument. He said these limitations include swing and price and the danger of cyber threats.

Abdullah’s proclamation came days after another minister in Malaysia said the country should begin legalizing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as a way to get youths more active in the crypto space.

Read more: Malaysian Minister: Bitcoin Should Be Legal Tender

“The growing technology and payment landscape have prompted the Bank Negara Malaysia to actively assess the potential of banks’ digital currency central or the central bank’s digital currency (CBDC),” the deputy finance minister said.

Earlier this week, the deputy minister of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Ministry called on the country to make cryptocurrency legal tender.

“We hope the government can allow this,” Zahidi Zainul Abidin said in Parliament on Monday.

Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, still hasn’t taken a formal position on making bitcoin legal tender, although it has said it’s studying the introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

In September, the bank worked with its counterparts from Australia, Singapore and South Africa to carry out a cross-border test run of CBDC.

See also: Ban in Thailand Adds to Growing Backlash Against Crypto Payments

This week also saw Malaysia’s neighbor Thailand impose a ban on the use of cryptocurrencies for payments, joining a growing list of countries, including India, Indonesia and Turkey, that are either limiting the use of digital assets to investments or are considering it.

Issued Wednesday by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, the ban is set to go into effect on April 1, with digital asset service providers already using crypto for payments getting until May 1 to comply.