Crypto Trading & Investing is permissible, says Malaysia Shariah Advisory Council 

Citizens of Malaysia can now freely invest in cryptocurrency and trade the same on registered cryptocurrency exchanges according to the Shariah Advisory Council of the Malaysian Securities Commission.

This was revealed in the Invest Malaysia 2020 event this week by the Shariah Advisory Council which said via its Chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar in a panel session “The Securities Commission Shariah Advisory Council has resolved that in principle, it is permissible to invest and trade in digital currencies and tokens on registered digital asset exchanges”

Since cryptocurrency became a thing and gaining global relevance, some members of the Islamic communities have been reluctant to touch crypto considering how averse they are to non-shariah compliant products. 

This reluctance has made a good number of the nation’s population to not get involved in cryptocurrency as Muslims represent a significant percentage of the total population. The Islamic Tourism Center describe the nation as multiracial state with Islam being the official religion constitutionally, though the shariah laws are only applicable to Muslims. 

The revelation by the Shariah Advisory Council could fuel the growth of crypto products and innovation in the economy as there are only three registered cryptocurrency exchanges that are operating in the country of which are Luno, Sinegy Technologies and Tokenize Technology. 

In the words of the Chairman of the Securities Commission, Datuk Syed Zaid Albar, it’s “a really ground-breaking resolution by Shariah Advisory Council that could spur greater development and investment in digital assets…”. 

While the resolve of the Council is not yet absolute, the Securities Commission’s chairman said that, “once the resolution is finalised, we will issue further details”

Image credit: AsiaTimes