--- title: "Malaysian Government: Let’s Turn Bitcoin Into Legal Tender" description: "After El Salvador's disastrous decision to make Bitcoin legal tender, Malaysia is excited to follow suit, Bloomberg reports." date: "2022-03-21" modified: "2022-03-21" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/malaysia-government-bitcoin" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "bitcoin" - "malaysia" - "the digest" --- # Malaysian Government: Let’s Turn Bitcoin Into Legal Tender ![After El Salvador's disastrous decision to make Bitcoin legal tender, Malaysia is excited to follow suit, Bloomberg reports.]() *\Image: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images\* ## Legalize It In the wake of El Salvador's disastrous decision to make Bitcoin legal tender, Malaysia's government is excited to follow suit, [*Bloomberg* reports](). It's a clear sign governments around the world are still very much showing interest in adopting cryptocurrencies — despite less-than-stellar results shown by their international cohort. Zahidi Zainul Abidin, the nation's deputy minister of communications and multimedia, said that he hopes the government will "allow" a proposal currently being floated throughout the Malaysian government — to adopt Bitcoin as accepted legal tender throughout the country — to become law. As Zahidi pointed out, however, it's not up to him: The decision to accept Bitcoin as an official currency falls under the purview of Malaysia's central bank and Securities Commission. ## Roll Out El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin last year, requiring all businesses in the country to accept it. Yet, in many ways, the rollout has been a [complete disaster](). According to a recent government survey, the [vast majority]() of businesses never even bothered to start accepting the cryptocurrency. Whether Malaysia would fare any better remains to be seen. For one, there's certainly plenty of anti-Bitcoin sentiment in the country. Last year, Malaysian law enforcement seized 1,069 bitcoin mining rigs before [crushing them all with a steamroller](). "The electricity theft for mining Bitcoin activities has caused frequent power outages, and in 2021, three houses were razed due to illegal electricity supply connections," local police chief Hakemal Hawari told [Malaysian newspaper *The Star*]() at the time*.* That all goes without mentioning the token's extreme volatility, too, which opponents of Bitcoin adoption would use to argue against any sane version of economic policymaking bringing it into a sovereign economic fold. While it's still unclear if Malaysia is any closer to adopting Bitcoin, it's not exactly out of the question given the groundswell in enthusiasm for the token — especially now that it's going public in the higher rankings of their government. **READ MORE:** [Malaysian Ministry Proposes Legal Tender of Crypto Currency]() \[*Bloomberg*\] ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()