A CONCEPT paper on cryptocurrency will be completed and released this month for the public to decide for themselves whether they should  invest, said Bank Negara Malaysia governor Muhammad Ibrahim.

“Basically, we are going to make the promoter of the cryptocurrency, which includes Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple, be more transparent, the methodology transparent and the people behind it transparent too.

“Hopefully, by doing this, the people can make their decision on whether to invest in cryptocurrency,” he said during a question-and-answer session at the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia’s 40th anniversary dinner, recently.

About 250 of Harvard Business School alumni attended the dinner.

He said Malaysia was taking a slightly different approach towards the cryptocurrency, unlike some countries which had decided on an outright ban.

“We are not going to ban it for now, but we are going to let the market decide the future of cryptocurrency. The key point is that they must know what they are (getting into),” he said, adding that BNM did not recognise the cryptocurrency as fiat money.

Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani had said Malaysia would not impose a blanket ban on cryptocurrency as there was avid and growing interest in a currency that was free of regulatory laws.

He said banning the cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, would curb innovation and creativity in the financial sector, particularly in financial technology.

As of September last year, there are over 1,100 digital currencies in existence. 

The cryptocurrencies are normally used outside the existing banking and governmental institutions and are exchanged over the internet.

Earlier, the governor said, based on data, many people, aged between 35 and 45, were declared bankrupt because they had defaulted on credit card payments

“This group of people will start to have a family, buy a house, car and send their children to school.

“Having said this, people need to live within their own means. There is no doubt that the cost of living is high but the cost of lifestyle is also something that they should be looking into,” he said.

Muhammad said he was concerned that the high prices of so-called affordable homes would be a burden on Malaysians, especially those in the bottom 40% category (salary of RM3,855 and below).

“If your salary is RM3,000, you can only afford to buy a house, maybe costing around RM180,000, but where can you get it?

“There has been an oversupply in the property market for the high-rise condominium but the prices are not affordable. We need to correct this including through the market mechanism,” he said. – Bernama, January 10, 2018.