Malaysian Securities Commission Orders Huobi to Halt Crypto Exchange Operations

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Malaysia’s top securities regulator, the Securities Commission (SC), announced today that it has ordered Huobi, the Seychelles-based crypto exchange, to shut down its operations in the country.

It appears that Huobi has fallen under the spell of Malaysian regulators for operating a digital asset exchange without registration, according to the announcement. Running a crypto exchange without a Recognized Market Operator (RMO) license is an offense under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007.

A public rebuke was also issued against the exchange and its founder Leon Li. to disable the website and remove the app from app stores.

The regulators’ announcement says the enforcement action was taken after concerns about the platforms’ compliance with local regulatory requirements and the protection of investors’ interests.

Decrypt reached out to SC and Huobi for further comment, but did not receive an immediate response.

Malaysia’s first steps

Malaysia is not the first country anyone would associate with the global crypto arms race and this is reflected in the lack of crypto news from the Southeast Asian country, but that may change soon.

In September 2021, Malaysia’s central bank joined a trial with the Bank for International Settlements, and in January announced that it was working on a proof of concept “to improve our technical and policy capabilities, should the need to issue [a] CBDCs will crop up in the future.”

A CBDC is a central bank digital currency, essentially a centrally issued digital asset that derives its value from a nation’s legal tender.

More recently, in March, Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Zahidi Zainul, said the country should recognize Bitcoin as legal tender: “We hope the government can allow this,” he said. in Parliament in response to a question from the opposition.

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