Malaysia’s Communication Ministry has reportedly urged the government to embrace cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin as an official payment method inside the country’s borders.
- According to a March 21 report by Bloomberg, Malaysia might become the next country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender since Zahidi Zainul Abidin (Deputy Minister at Malaysia’s Communication Ministry) proposed such a move.
“We hope the government can allow this. We are trying to see how we can legalize this so that we can develop youth participation in crypto and assist them,” the politician stated.
- As of the moment, El Salvador is the only country that has accepted the primary cryptocurrency as an official means of payment inside its territory.
- Despite attracting some controversy, the Central American nation seems to gain quite a few benefits. Reports suggested recently that the tourism sector went up by 30% since BTC’s legalization, meaning that people find the state more attractive now.
- If implemented in Malaysia, the move would come as a surprise since the local authorities have displayed a rather hostile stance towards cryptocurrencies, and more specifically digital asset miners, over the past several months.
- Last summer, Malaysian law enforcement agents confiscated over 1,000 bitcoin mining rigs, laid them out in a parking lot, and crushed them demonstratively with a steamroller. The officials claimed that the miners stole $2 million worth of electricity over the course of their illegal operations, while the destroyed mining equipment equaled $1.26 million.
- A separate report informed that the Malaysian authorities seized approximately $13 million worth of crypto machinery in 2021.