The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has registered 3 Recognized Market Operators (RMOs) which are Luno Malaysia, Sinegy Technologies and Tokenize Technology (M) Sdn Bhd to establish and operate digital asset exchanges (DAX), or cryptocurrency exchanges according to a press release on yesterday.

The 3 new RMOs have been given up to 9 months to fully comply with all regulatory requirements, SC said in a statement yesterday.

The announcement follows the coming into force of the Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital Currency and Digital Token) Order 2019 on Jan 15, and the subsequent issuance of the revised Guidelines on Recognized Markets on Jan 31 to introduce new requirements for DAX operators.

DAX operators who have not been approved by the SC are required to stop all activities immediately and return all monies and assets collected from investors, SC warned.

“Operating a DAX without authorization from the SC is an offence under securities laws and a person in breach may be liable to a fine or imprisonment term or both” “At the same time, the SC also advises members of the public to be mindful of the risks related to trading in digital assets, including risks of trading on exchanges that are not registered with the SC.”

SC urged members of the public to verify if a digital asset operator is registered with the SC at https://www.sc.com.my/development/digital/digitalassets

News reports had indicated that 19 cryptocurrency operators had applied for licenses from the regulator.

Those who operate unlicensed crypto exchanges can be fined RM10 million or jailed 10 years, or both.

Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com