KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): The Securities Commission (SC) has permitted 22 companies to continue operating a digital asset exchange after March 1, 2019. 

In a statement today, the capital market regulator said following the release of the amended Guidelines on Recognised Markets on Jan 31, 2019, companies which had submitted their application to be registered with the SC as a digital asset exchange would be permitted to continue operations for another transitional period from March 1, 2019, until such period as may be notified by the SC.

During this transitional period -- which follows a transitional period from Jan 15 to March 1, 2019 -- these platform operators will not be permitted to accept new investors and will only be allowed to facilitate the withdrawal or transfer of client assets with the written instruction of the investor. 

“Companies which did not submit their application to the SC by March 1, 2019, are required to take necessary steps to cease their business and return all clients’ assets by March 15, 2019,” the SC said.

SC said the public should take note that the notice did not constitute its approval, authorisation or endorsement of any digital asset platform operators or any digital assets traded on the platforms.

It said the lists of companies permitted and not permitted to continue operations would be updated regularly and members of the public were encouraged to refer to them when dealing with digital asset exchanges. 

The lists can be found at: https://www.sc.com.my/regulation/guidelines/recognizedmarkets/list-of-digital-asset-exchanges-in-transitional-period

The updates were made following the Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital Currency and Digital Token) Order 2019 that took effect on Jan 15, 2019.