Malaysia is a powerhouse in South East Asia, as this nation is re-positioning itself as a “player” in the world’s digital economy having the necessary infrastructure to support the upcoming mainstream adoption of Blockchain Technology.
Cryptocurrencies are slowly becoming popular in this country, while Bitcoin has historically been rather difficult to obtain in Malaysia. With growing political tension, slowing economic growth and a constructive regulatory stance towards digital currencies, we’re witnessing Malaysians embracing Blockchain technology throughout the years. Since 2014, there is has been a growing demand for Bitcoin Exchanges to be established to serve the local Market which prompted Bank Negara Malaysia to emphasize a policy which mentions that reporting organizations are not allowed to portray itself as a licensed entity under the central bank though they have reporting obligations to the regulator.
It has since become much easier for local citizens to obtain Bitcoin & digital currencies using the Malaysian Ringgit as up to 9 major Crypto exchanges are reporting to Authorities granted with the permission to providing a marketplace to facilitate trade between Malaysian Ringgit & Digital Currencies.
Crypto Exchanges
LUNO
Malaysia’s most popular Crypto exchange that records the highest trade volume for the BTC/MYR pair is known as ”Luno”, which became the preferred platform to directly buy Bitcoin & Ethereum using the Malaysian Ringgit. Once known as BitX, Luno has rebranded itself and has since achieved to bring aboard over thousands of users over the following years, becoming a powerhouse in Malaysia as it’s the most active Crypto exchange in terms of signed up users & trade volume.
Luno is one of the few exchanges working with the government to ensure that it can remain in the Exchange business by officially announcing that the company will comply with local laws & policies. With plans on opening an official branch in Malaysian, Luno will directly report to higher authorities with the intention of developing a better relationship with the Government, a move that comes after Luno’s local bank accounts were frozen due to anti money-laundering and tax concerns.
Reviewed to be South Asia’s most user-friendly mobile Bitcoin Wallet, this Crypto exchange is one of the few that allow Malaysians to directly obtain Ethereum using the local currency, hence Luno has become the people’s choice when it comes to competitive rates as there is a high number of buyers & sellers trading on this Exchange.
Go to Luno.com
CoinHako
This particular Exchange was originally funded in Silicon Valley but has established itself in Singapore, allowing Malaysian Citizen to use their services, by offering wire transfer for only the Singaporean dollar & Ringgit. Coinhako is accepting bank transfers from only two countries as of right now but the CEO, Yusho Liu has the goal of expanding the service throughout Asia over the following years, as it may operate mostly as an entry-level service that focuses on providing a user-friendly solution by making it ”simple & easy” to buy Bitcoin.
The fact that this Exchange is based Singapore, which is considered to be one of the world’s most popular Cryptocurrency haven due to the regulation that governs the country, assures citizen that Coinhako will comply with both Singaporean & Malaysian laws. This exchange is also praised by millionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper who has personally invested a “six figure” investment and the startup was also a participant from “Tribe 4” of Boost VC’s accelerator program
With a total of 3 markets for BTC, LTC, and ETH against MYR, Coinhako also features a unique wallet service that makes storing digital cryptocurrencies a hassle-free convenience. Over the years, Coinhako has proven itself to be a reliable service among Malaysian by providing a liquid market for the MYR/BTC trading pair and a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to trade Bitcoin via the Malaysian Ringgit
Go to Coinhako.com
Coins.my
Coins.my is a Philippine-based Cryptocurrency Exchange that is one considered to be of the few well-rounded blockchain platforms in Malaysia, allowing users to trade the local currency directly with bitcoin through an independent National Exchange
Besides offering Trading services, Coins.my also features person-to-person wallet transfers, bill payments, mobile top-ups, online shopping, and remittance services. Coins Exchange allows Malaysians to directly top-up their Mobile numbers by providing a middle-man service with telecom providers such as Umobile, Maxis, Digi & Celcom. The positive feedback proves that, with the mobile app being praised to be one of the best and well-rounded Bitcoin service currently available in the Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia
The company behind Coins.my was founded in 2014 by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Runar Petursson and Ron Hose who is also a founding partner at Innovation Endeavors, an early stage venture capital fund backed by Google Investor Eric Schmidt. With a dedicated Team, Coins.my has plenty to offer as their core mission is to increase financial inclusion by delivering financial services directly to people through their mobile phones. The independent Malaysian Exchange seems to have lower trade volume compared to Coins.ph or Coins.th but continues to provide a liquid trading pair for BTC/MYR
Go to Coins.my
XbitAsia
Operating since 2016, this company was founded by Yuwarajan .K and Mac Sivanesan, two local digital entrepreneurs who have spent much of time educating Malaysian about blockchain technology, experience the growing demand of Cryptocurrency over a short period of time among Malaysians, which led to the decision of establishing a dedicated Bitcoin Exchange that allow local citizens to purchase BTC directly with the preferred domestic currency the Ringgit offering only a Market for the BTC/MYR trading pair
As a relatively new Exchange with limited funding, they’ve have been able to provide a reliable service, receiving lots of positive user feedback and growing liquidity. While the user interface may lack several features and the overall design of the Exchange seems to be rather simplistic, it has been noted that Xbit.asia offers good customer service. XbitAsia offers an alternative platform to trade directly and purchase Bitcoin using only the Malaysian Ringgit for processing Fiat withdrawal and deposit
XbitAsia is also one of the few exchanges that are part of the nine Malaysia-based Cryptocurrency Exchanges which acts as a reporting institution according to Bank Negara, noting that this Exchange proves to be a worthy contender within the industry interested in providing a long-term Bitcoin Trading solution.
Go to XbitAsia
Peer-to-Peer Exchanges
LocalBitcoins
Localbitcoins is the world most popular Bitcoin Peer-to-peer marketplace that provides users with an alternative way to obtain and trade digital currencies within a local country. This P2P marketplace has been around for a very long time and was originally based from Finland since 2012, the goal to connect Bitcoin buyers and sellers via an open, peer-to-peer marketplace and has since become a popular service in Malaysia.
A platform that offers seller and buyers from around the world to meet and trade Bitcoin in countries worldwide has become the most popular Bitcoin P2P for Malaysian citizens. Malaysian can find buyer/sellers of Bitcoin and directly initiate a trade request with users that are trusted based on the built-in rating system. Essentially, Localbitcoins provides an Escrow service that act’s as a third-party to ensure that trades are conducted fairly
Localbitcoins has developed a good reputation and established itself in a large number of countries around the world, with the site currently listing exchangers in 15582 cities across 248 countries.
Go to LocalBitcoins
Remitano
Owned by the Seychelles-based company Babylon Solutions Limited, Remitano has been around since 2016 connecting Bitcoin buyers and sellers on an open, peer-to-peer marketplace. The activity on this platform has skyrocketed as the result of the recent Malaysian Government crackdown on local Cryptocurrency exchange bank accounts, leaving many citizen having to rely on Remitano to directly find buyer/sellers of Cryptocurrencies. Unlike LocalBitcoins.com, this exchange offers alternative Markets such as Bitcoin Cash & Ethereum providing more alternatives when compared to P2P Bitcoin-only Exchange Network. Remitano only requires you verify your email address, allowing anyone to bitcoin via a seller on the platform without requiring additional verification
By using the site users can create and list advertisements, communicate with prospective buyers and sellers and confirm all the transaction details before finalizing any trade. Since Remitano is popular among Malaysians it likely to remain the most active decentralized marketplace for buyer/sellers of digital currencies such like Bitcoin, Ethereum & Bitcoin Cash
Go to Remitano
This List will continue to get updated via our personal Website! Visit CryptoHype.Tech to keep up with the latest Bitcoin Exchanges operating here in Malaysia
