On Monday, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia Zahidi Zainul has expressed his support for legalizing Bitcoin and crypto as such as the country’s legal tenders, Bloomberg confirms. Could the country follow in the footsteps of El Salvador?
"We hope the government can allow this," he stated in a parliament meeting, as a part of a reaction to the country’s testing its own CBDC since September of the last year. Moreover, the central bank of Malaysia announced in January that it was working towards taking necessary measures, “should the need to issue [a] CBDC arise in the future."
The country is being cautious, however, as the CBDCs can be monitored by the country’s government, as opposed to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which exist independently with no country having access to regulating it.
For El Salvador, the decision to officially legalize Bitcoin has proven fruitful so far, as the country’s tourism is booming. However, Malaysia’s economy is much further, with its citizens earning much more on average than those in El Salvador. Therefore, the decision could potentially have a different outcome for this Southeast Asian country.
On the other hand, Malaysia has significantly more crypto users than El Salvador, according to the official 2021 Chainalysis data, which could help propel the adoption further, if the asset is legalized. At the time being, it is just a suggestion, though, but one with strong support.
