Malaysia to Limit Cash Transactions in 2020

[Darker45]

(Image grabbed from https://www.busonlineticket.com/blog/petronas-twin-towers-the-landmark-of-kuala-lumpur)

The country is set to implement an unprecedented restriction on the use of cash.^[1] This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash. Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

While some business communities are against such drastic measure as it would certainly affect their day to day operation, an idea pops out that they could actually circumvent this policy by adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.^[2] An ordinary household in Malaysia is said to spend around 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) per month, way below the 25,000 RM limit. But still, a lot are clamoring to increase the limit as the current proposed limit is way to low.

Would you care to share your thoughts on this? Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Sources:
[1]

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25-000-in-2020-12072710
• https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/11/08/business-community-says-no-to-rm25k-limit
• https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/11/07/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25000-next-year

[2] https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-usage-may-spike-following-cash-restrictions-in-malaysia/

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[joniboini]

The limit is for physical cash transactions. If you need to transfer make more than 25K RM, then you need to do it electronically.[1] I don't think that's a huge problem for the people.

I'm not sure how they will monitor it though, maybe need to read the full policy draft.

[1] https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/bank-negara-wants-cash-transactions-be-capped-rm25000-next-year

[blckhawk]

Interesting ideology, especially from a government standpoint. I also agree with the side of investors and business owners since their daily transactions would be capped and their profit as well. They might look into cryptocurrencies because even digital modes of payments by banks that use also fiat would be affected by such policy. And this could pose an increase in market demand, especially to Bitcoin since it leads the market and is much reliable than other alts.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

OP, first two things:  1) Please don't include huge, unnecessary pictures in threads like this.  It's really annoying.  2) You might want to move this to the Economics section, as it seems more relevant to Economics.

This is lousy news for Malaysia, and I'm not sure what the hell their government is thinking by doing this.

“This is to address the abuse of physical cash used for illicit activities,”

I mean, give me a break.  I know banks in the US have to report withdrawals of greater than $10,000 to the IRS or something like that, but they sure as hell don't limit the amount of cash you can spend.  It's our fucking money, after all.  You can probably tell that this article pissed me off, because I don't think any government should be limiting what people do with their own money, especially not for the reason quoted above.  Such limits are going to do nothing to stop illegal activities, and this might even prompt criminals to adopt bitcoin even more than they already do. 

Argh.

[hello_good_sir]

It makes sense though, doesn't it?

If we lived in a world where cash didn't exist, and our world only had fiat transactions via online payment methods, there is going to be no government in the world that would invent and try to implement cash. Why?

Because cash is literally the best thing criminals can ever have, even better than cryptocurrencies and privacy coins since it's fiat-based and fairly easy to smuggle.

I don't think this limits bitcoin traders that much, more of a blow to the big whales that deal with cash a lot, and I respect this from the government, it'll make crime harder to do.

[adaseb]

The banks don't report it to the IRS they usually report it to the Money Laundering Prevention team i think it's called something like FinCEN.

I had a friend who sold a car this way, the price was something like $11000 and the guy actually brought cash. They met up at a bank and the buyer had to fill out some form where the money came from and what-not and he never had any issues.

Most likely if this became a law then the buyer would just need to buy a money order first and then pay my friend. While he buys the money order most likely he will need to submit something to FinCEN so I don't see what purpose lowering the cash limit would do.

Very rare to buy a car for 5 figures with cash these days however so I don't see this being a big issue. Most stuff you buy with cash from like Craiglists will be way below the limit anyways.

[CryptoBry]

Would you care to share your thoughts on this? Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Malaysia has a big plan to go digital and this is can be the underlying reason for the limit of the use of the fiat money, of course aside from those cited in the said policy. Now, we are looking at this as a catalyst for the people to be adopting cryptocurrency as part of the digitalization of this country. How is this going to affect Bitcoin that remains to be seen. We are hoping that people will be looking to Bitcoin as a good alternative to the Malaysia ringgit in doing their digital transactions and even in usual day-to-day lives. I am not from Malaysia so I am just commenting here as an outsider.

[Kprawn]

What is this going to accomplish? The illegal crime syndicates have loads of people working for them and they can just use these people to do the

individual transactions on their behalf. How are you going to stop illegal transactions being done between criminals? Most drug trades are done on

the street with amounts much less than that. Let's say you want to buy a big item with illegal fiat, then you just arrange with the seller that you

pay him over a longer period and be done with that.    There are many ways to circumvent stupid laws like this and even doing it within these

laws. 

[Juggy777]

Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

Would you care to share your thoughts on this? Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Sources:
[1]

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25-000-in-2020-12072710
• https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/11/08/business-community-says-no-to-rm25k-limit
• https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/11/07/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25000-next-year

[2] https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-usage-may-spike-following-cash-restrictions-in-malaysia/

This policy won’t work for long and people will openly revolt against such bizarre policies, I feel the Malaysian government should instead incentivise people to use digital money instead of curbing fiat money. I don’t think we will see a major surge in bitcoin usage because many people don’t understand how to use it, and others will prefer to pay via online banking only.

[kawetsriyanto]

Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Do you see any correlations between "the limitation of the physical cash transactions" and "Bitcoin or crypto adoption"?
I think they don't plan to consider Bitcoin or crypto adoption, they just plan to apply more digital transactions (online) since it can be easier to control by the government. However, this is a good sign that more countries consider using digital payment in the future. It is in line with the existence of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

[jootn2kx]

Well that's hardly going to help. Criminals will find a way, as they always do, and regular people and business owners are going to suffer because of it. It might be good for crypto, but that remains to be seen.

[tianglistrik]

Well that's hardly going to help. Criminals will find a way, as they always do, and regular people and business owners are going to suffer because of it. It might be good for crypto, but that remains to be seen.

Criminals will continue to have a way, maybe the country's government thinks about transaction data that can be traced and I think it can help to do a little security, maybe it can have an impact on digital currencies. but I think to realize it will take time to adopt these rules

[lobat999]

This policy won’t work for long and people will openly revolt against such bizarre policies, I feel the Malaysian government should instead incentivise people to use digital money instead of curbing fiat money. I don’t think we will see a major surge in bitcoin usage because many people don’t understand how to use it, and others will prefer to pay via online banking only.

This is an absurd idea that will ultimately prove unpopular with Malaysians as I assume there will be repercussions if they implement it since I understand this will be first in ASEAN.

Now I think this is not an effective solution to combat illicit activities because these offenders will always find a way to circumvent this process! I guess the best way to combat these illegal activities is to strengthen crime detection and law enforcement and impose much harsher penalties and laws that will discourage would be offenders.

[mersal]

I wonder how a country can put limitations for using physical money? How do they know if someone used more money then they mentioned? If this is to stop illegal activities then this is wrong step from government,if they do then it will be a good chance for the people to adopt crypto currency where no limitation,no restrictions.

[cutesgirl]

Well that's hardly going to help. Criminals will find a way, as they always do, and regular people and business owners are going to suffer because of it. It might be good for crypto, but that remains to be seen.

Criminals will continue to have a way, maybe the country's government thinks about transaction data that can be traced and I think it can help to do a little security, maybe it can have an impact on digital currencies. but I think to realize it will take time to adopt these rules

Malaysia want to limit cash transaction is bad ideas for their economic country, I think is not good ideas because limit cash transaction make many investor not reach much profit with their investment, after cash have limited in Malaysia maybe they will try for limiting with bitcoin or digital currency for investing and legal currency transaction.

[Vishnu.Reang]

It's not just Malaysia. Here in India, we have even more bizarre laws. Recently the government made it an offense to keep more than $3,000 in physical cash at home. They want to track each and every transactions and the anonymity offered by physical cash has been an obstacle for that. And already many of the countries have recalled the high-denomination banknotes.

[Clement Kaliyar]

The country is set to implement an unprecedented restriction on the use of cash.^[1] This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash. Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

If they are restricting hard cash are they implementing this to promote online transactions to have a record on all the transactions, these restrictions occurs when you are withdrawing money from the bank i believe.

While some business communities are against such drastic measure as it would certainly affect their day to day operation, an idea pops out that they could actually circumvent this policy by adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

If the government is trying to implement something to restrict the cash flow do you think that you can overcome that by bitcoin, the government will restrict that kind of payment too if they are trying to bring down the illegal activities with money.

[Eclipse26]

Why do they have to limit their people from using or keeping their local currency? What are they trying to do? Avoid inflation? Avoid criminal activities? I don't think that's the solution for it. The government's job is to prevent crimes but not to make their people suffer. People will have a hard time adjusting that they might look for another way to have money without having to hold their physical cash. Crypto can be an option, but are there any prohibition with crypto in Malaysia?

[VanDeinsberg12]

Southeast asia is known for its potential in the eyes of investors as of now, maybe that is because the significant growth of singapore that could affect the neighbouring country to be more competitive and this approach made by malaysia to force their citizens into using cashless society is not a bad idea in my opinion. It is already predicted since long ago that our society will eventually become cashless and that could reduce logging for sole purpose of creating money I honestly cant see this as a bizzare thing.

[Wysi]

Why do they have to limit their people from using or keeping their local currency? What are they trying to do? Avoid inflation? Avoid criminal activities? I don't think that's the solution for it. The government's job is to prevent crimes but not to make their people suffer. People will have a hard time adjusting that they might look for another way to have money without having to hold their physical cash. Crypto can be an option, but are there any prohibition with crypto in Malaysia?

I think they might have planned something big and even I am wondering why are even to implement such a bizarre rule? What are the other options available for the citizens?  Because everyone will not be able to learn about crypto and it's not feasible to use it on daily life. I will not be wondering if they are planning to go completely digital and launch their own centralized digital currency.

[exstasie]

The country is set to implement an unprecedented restriction on the use of cash.^[1] This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash. Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

While some business communities are against such drastic measure as it would certainly affect their day to day operation, an idea pops out that they could actually circumvent this policy by adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.^[2] An ordinary household in Malaysia is said to spend around 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) per month, way below the 25,000 RM limit. But still, a lot are clamoring to increase the limit as the current proposed limit is way to low.

How is this supposed to be enforced, the honor system? Black markets won't be self-policing for limits on physical cash so this is very obviously an attack on free capital flow. They are forcing residents to depend on third party financial services.

The limit is for physical cash transactions. If you need to transfer make more than 25K RM, then you need to do it electronically.[1] I don't think that's a huge problem for the people.

That's how it starts. They'll make the threshold (in this case ~6,000 USD per month) high enough that most people won't care. Then they will probably add additional restrictions over time.

There's no logical reason for this law besides the introduction of capital controls.

[Philipma1957cellphone]

It makes sense though, doesn't it?

If we lived in a world where cash didn't exist, and our world only had fiat transactions via online payment methods, there is going to be no government in the world that would invent and try to implement cash. Why?

Because cash is literally the best thing criminals can ever have, even better than cryptocurrencies and privacy coins since it's fiat-based and fairly easy to smuggle.

I don't think this limits bitcoin traders that much, more of a blow to the big whales that deal with cash a lot, and I respect this from the government, it'll make crime harder to do.

   smuggling  cash is not easy if it is 100,000 usd .  Yeah 3,4,5 even 10k is easy. But once you get to a lot of cash it is hard to smuggle. Btw this is why usa stopped 500 and 1000 dollar Bill's. As a stack of a hundred thousand  dollar Bill's is much easier to move then a stack of a thousand hundred dollar Bill's.  To me moving cash in 3 ,4,5 thousand amounts is small time crime use.

[abhiseshakana]

Instead of just criticizing Malaysia's policy, let's discuss what are the goals and interests behind the cash transaction value restriction policy.

With this policy indirectly encouraging people to switch from cash-based payment systems to non-cash, there are at least three fundamental reasons why the Malaysian government and other countries limit the number of cash transactions.

- Non-cash transaction activities can save costs and foreign exchange savings compared to cash transactions. What costs are saved? There are money printing costs, money distribution fees, and cash handling fees. In addition, reducing the opportunity for perpetrators to produce fake money.

- With non-cash transactions, greater liquidity, because non-cash transactions cause more money to be deposited in the bank than at home, then money circulation will be far greater. Such conditions can contribute to reducing interest rates, which may encourage economic development.

- Indirectly as a tax monitoring tool, with non-cash transactions, the possibility of tax avoidance will also be smaller. Why? Non-cash transactions make more money deposited in banks than elsewhere. Thus, tax avoidance is increasingly difficult. Thus, the number of taxpayers will increase. If the number of taxpayers is increasing, the tax rate is likely to decrease so it is not too burdensome to the community.

- The uses of non-cash transactions can be more efficient in terms of time, the faster velocity of money. The more efficient the economy, the faster its growth.

The advantage of non-cash transactions is that they produce financial records that are more accurate, precise, and well-documented. This facilitates and accelerates the tracking of each transaction if needed. In addition, it helps budgeting activities. Because every transaction is well documented, so it's easy and fast to track. This will facilitate the preparation of financial budgets. Cash transactions complicate efforts to trace the origin of money originating from criminal offenses. With large amounts of non-cash transactions, it can be tracked by the authorized official. This will minimize embezzlement or other corrupt practices that can harm the country's finances.

Are the people of Malaysia ready for a cashless society?
Cashless society can be realized with the attention of the government in the preparation of adequate and equitable digital infrastructure, digital literacy and financial literacy.

[ecnalubma]

This will definitely affect business operations in the country and the citizens will have to adjust. Maybe its one of their best options to deter money involvement in crimes however this is not an easy measure. But if only most malaysian's know how to utilise crypto It will be big help.

[error08]

It's true that cash being used for illegal transactions and so does other forms of means of payment including bitcoin. If a government stated to implement a rule to prevent cash abuse, that's their right to do, furthermore, it's more convenient to transact fiat currency through bank service, who today always carries so much cash in a suitcase with them?

[NathanJB]

Are the people of Malaysia ready for a cashless society?
Cashless society can be realized with the attention of the government in the preparation of adequate and equitable digital infrastructure, digital literacy and financial literacy.

A cashless society is for those countries that are already fully developed, which Malaysia is not yet unfortunately. But this will be done gradually and step by step of course. This will not be done at an instant. I believe Malaysia has a lot of rural areas which cannot cope with this advancement of cashless technologies and policies. The country has to take into consideration these areas as well.

[Sithara007]

A lot of countries have attempted to eradicate physical cash, but in none of the cases this move was successful. The problem with digital cash is that you need additional devices and services to transact the cash. The basic requirements are smartphone and internet connection. Without that you can't make digital cash payments. And you can't expect someone who doesn't have a smartphone to support such an initiative. If the government is so adamant about it, then they should distribute smartphones for free, along with internet connection.

[romero121]

More and more countries will follow the same way of financial planning. In the name of digital growth already more countries have been encouraging cashless transactions. This too has made people to look onto bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions. The initiative taken by Malaysia with some time target is really a positive thing. Right now Westerners contribute good to the cryptocurrency, now with more such progress from Asian Countries the growth and adoption gets diversified.

[yoseph]

Are the people of Malaysia ready for a cashless society?
Cashless society can be realized with the attention of the government in the preparation of adequate and equitable digital infrastructure, digital literacy and financial literacy.

A cashless society is for those countries that are already fully developed, which Malaysia is not yet unfortunately. But this will be done gradually and step by step of course. This will not be done at an instant. I believe Malaysia has a lot of rural areas which cannot cope with this advancement of cashless technologies and policies. The country has to take into consideration these areas as well.

First and foremost I wonder why they are now planning on limiting the so called Cash transactions in the first place and the first thing that comes to mind is that they have realised the obscene amount of money that they spend when it comes to printing FIAT and they are taking steps to reduce it and make most transactions digital.

[VanDeinsberg12]

Seriously though, this kind regulation of transaction limit specifically paper money is among the most ineffective regulation out there. What I mean is people will still do a transaction that exceed certain amount mentioned if they wanted to do so, some companies in business might refuse but then it will increase the chance of losing customer. I think people who already feel inconvenienced enough are already switching to bank transfer but people who just comfortable to pay using cash should have the right for that too. This regulation is basically giving solution to a nonexistent problem unless the corporation or companies demand the government to release such regulation I think it’s just waste of tax money from the people. They pay money to the government and what they get is crappy regulation that goes against them.

[Vishnu.Reang]

More and more countries will follow the same way of financial planning. In the name of digital growth already more countries have been encouraging cashless transactions. This too has made people to look onto bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions. The initiative taken by Malaysia with some time target is really a positive thing. Right now Westerners contribute good to the cryptocurrency, now with more such progress from Asian Countries the growth and adoption gets diversified.

China was one of the countries which used to encourage digital payments. But recently they reversed this policy and made it mandatory for all the stores and merchants to accept physical cash. Because they found that a lot of ordinary people are not comfortable with digital payments and there exists a sizable section which prefers using physical cash.

[cotton ball]

Seriously though, this kind regulation of transaction limit specifically paper money is among the most ineffective regulation out there. What I mean is people will still do a transaction that exceed certain amount mentioned if they wanted to do so, some companies in business might refuse but then it will increase the chance of losing customer. I think people who already feel inconvenienced enough are already switching to bank transfer but people who just comfortable to pay using cash should have the right for that too. This regulation is basically giving solution to a nonexistent problem unless the corporation or companies demand the government to release such regulation I think it’s just waste of tax money from the people. They pay money to the government and what they get is crappy regulation that goes against them.

Controversial to limit cash transaction 2020 by Malaysia government, maybe they want to keep higher value of their money by limited cash transaction id daily day with several amount, but for fiat currency like bitcoin can't to stop limit transaction because is digital currency payment where can manage by government.

[Murat]

That the real-time to push Bitcoin and crypto in this country, I think when your country is setting a limit of using cash then cryptocurrency could be the next window for the Malaysian people, so at this moment, Bitcoin and other cryptos should emphasis on this area because people need to spend their money, so when they discover another digital platform then they might use this system, One thing is that. In Malaysia there are a lot of immigrant working people, they send money their own country on a weekly or monthly basis, so this cryptocurrency should be used for those people, I think in this way, cryptocurrency will be spread out around the world.

[dimonstration]

Southeast asia is known for its potential in the eyes of investors as of now, maybe that is because the significant growth of singapore that could affect the neighbouring country to be more competitive and this approach made by malaysia to force their citizens into using cashless society is not a bad idea in my opinion. It is already predicted since long ago that our society will eventually become cashless and that could reduce logging for sole purpose of creating money I honestly cant see this as a bizzare thing.

Singapore can be a basis in these but they might also experimenting ways to forsee what may happen if they will implement the said limiting of cash to influence others to try crypto and see for themselves how their people will use it and if will affect their country. Since they've find cash really a medium of transaction of illegal activities in their area. It can or may benefit the illegal users still. We don't know yet, but let's hope Malaysia is prepared for it.

[lobat999]

Instead of just criticizing Malaysia's policy, let's discuss what are the goals and interests behind the cash transaction value restriction policy.

With this policy indirectly encouraging people to switch from cash-based payment systems to non-cash, there are at least three fundamental reasons why the Malaysian government and other countries limit the number of cash transactions.

- Non-cash transaction activities can save costs and foreign exchange savings compared to cash transactions. What costs are saved? There are money printing costs, money distribution fees, and cash handling fees. In addition, reducing the opportunity for perpetrators to produce fake money.

- With non-cash transactions, greater liquidity, because non-cash transactions cause more money to be deposited in the bank than at home, then money circulation will be far greater. Such conditions can contribute to reducing interest rates, which may encourage economic development.

- Indirectly as a tax monitoring tool, with non-cash transactions, the possibility of tax avoidance will also be smaller. Why? Non-cash transactions make more money deposited in banks than elsewhere. Thus, tax avoidance is increasingly difficult. Thus, the number of taxpayers will increase. If the number of taxpayers is increasing, the tax rate is likely to decrease so it is not too burdensome to the community.

- The uses of non-cash transactions can be more efficient in terms of time, the faster velocity of money. The more efficient the economy, the faster its growth.

The advantage of non-cash transactions is that they produce financial records that are more accurate, precise, and well-documented. This facilitates and accelerates the tracking of each transaction if needed. In addition, it helps budgeting activities. Because every transaction is well documented, so it's easy and fast to track. This will facilitate the preparation of financial budgets. Cash transactions complicate efforts to trace the origin of money originating from criminal offenses. With large amounts of non-cash transactions, it can be tracked by the authorized official. This will minimize embezzlement or other corrupt practices that can harm the country's finances.

Are the people of Malaysia ready for a cashless society?
Cashless society can be realized with the attention of the government in the preparation of adequate and equitable digital infrastructure, digital literacy and financial literacy.

I see you have a valid point yet I was wondering where did the Malaysian Government got this idea?

Is there a precedent about this policy which was previously implemented before by other Governments and proved to have been effective?

Or is this is just a test bed and experiment for the Malaysian policy makers which I assume they don't know yet what will be the consequences of it if ever it will be finally implemented?

[13abyknight]

The limit is for physical cash transactions. If you need to transfer make more than 25K RM, then you need to do it electronically.[1] I don't think that's a huge problem for the people.

It could be a big problem for people who go around doing their daily business with hard cash as there is the cap of 25k RM. The only upside for such people is that it becomes much easier to transact big sums of money after depositing it in a bank and then sending it through the online payment method.

I'm not sure how they will monitor it though, maybe need to read the full policy draft.

Its quite easy for the government to monitor ALL of the transactions happening online with the use of a unified payment system model which is undoubtedly being developed for this purpose.  

[alexsandria]

Limiting the use of cash just to prevent illegal activities are not even a close solution to the problem itself. Though the problem scopes little wide from that but I'd like to emphasize illegal activities as it stand as a major reason to limiting.

Illegal activities are planned with a various course of ideas, and paths in which to execute to attained a certain goal. I don't think limiting use of cash is close to pointing out such activities 'cause lots of method, and counter measurements have been declared towards the problem. I don't mean to disregard the problem I just cannot clearly think that such problem could be solve by shallow solutions.

[abhiseshakana]

I see you have a valid point yet I was wondering where did the Malaysian Government got this idea?

Is there a precedent about this policy which was previously implemented before by other Governments and proved to have been effective?

Or is this is just a test bed and experiment for the Malaysian policy makers which I assume they don't know yet what will be the consequences of it if ever it will be finally implemented?

smuggling  cash is not easy if it is 100,000 usd .  Yeah 3,4,5 even 10k is easy. But once you get to a lot of cash it is hard to smuggle. Btw this is why usa stopped 500 and 1000 dollar Bill's. As a stack of a hundred thousand  dollar Bill's is much easier to move then a stack of a thousand hundred dollar Bill's.  To me moving cash in 3 ,4,5 thousand amounts is small time crime use.

According to the experience that has occurred, especially in Indonesia close to Malaysia, smuggling USD 100,000 is very easy. The mode is as follows:

The Cross Border Cash Carrying (CBCC) rule requires everyone to report if they carry money equivalent to Rp 100 million if they cross a border area.

Through one of the ports close to Singapore, money launderers can go back and forth five times a day from Singapore to Indonesia, they usually come in groups of 8-15 people. Even so often the customs and immigration officers know them. They did not come for a vacation but to exchange money at a money changer.

Singapore utilizes the conditions of the surrounding countries which are rife with criminal acts of corruption to increase the country's foreign exchange. Singapore has large denominations of currencies (SGD 1000 = USD 735) and (SGD 10,000 = USD 7350). Due to complaints and requests from neighboring countries to stop the use of the SGD 1000 & SGD 10,000 fractions, Singapore stopped printing the SGD 10,000 fractions but refused to withdraw the fractions from circulation.

In Indonesia alone, the Singapore dollar is a prima donna for corruptors, every time there is a catch operation, a Singapore dollar is always found. The discovery and concern over this problem arose after corruption by one of the tax officers (lower level) in Indonesia worth USD 21 million. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison for 3 legal cases.

[Sithara007]

^^^ Well.. they started withdrawing the notes on 2016 and it is a very long process. It looks like the SGD 10,000 banknote will remain in circulation for at least the next 10-12 years, as the replacement is only done when the notes are damaged. If the banknotes are in good condition, they will remain in circulation. The only catch is that the central bank has stopped printing the SGD 10,000 banknote. Similar steps have been taken by the central banks of Canada (CAD 1,000 is being withdrawn) and European Union (the EUR 500 note is no longer being printed).

Once a bank receives the SGD 10,000 banknote, it is liable to exchange the banknote for lower denomination notes with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This is how they are phasing out the larger denomination banknote. In theory, this banknote will remain in circulation for an indefinite period of time, but with every passing year the number of such notes are declining. BTW, if you are from Singapore then you would know how difficult it is to spend these notes. Forget about the 10K note... even the 1K is very difficult to get accepted in most of the stores.

[Mometaskers]

I'm sure the crime syndicates they say they are trying to stop would just find other ways to launder all that money. They can probably even spread out the transactions among several accomplices.

It's not going to affect the average household so I don't think people are going to complain much. Maybe they are planning to go the way of India and demonetize the larger denominations and then either replace them with newer ones or just straight up remove them and have most large transactions be electronic (which can be easier to keep track of).

[loafof]

We don't really tend to use cash that much these days anyways.. and for large transactions we don't currently have an option but to go through the banks (at least with people who are not familiar with bitcoin). Won't change much and tackle much of the core problems I think?

[joniboini]

It could be a big problem for people who go around doing their daily business with hard cash as there is the cap of 25k RM. The only upside for such people is that it becomes much easier to transact big sums of money after depositing it in a bank and then sending it through the online payment method.

And how many are they? IIRC the 25k RM is for a single transaction[1]. I'm not sure most Malaysian needs to transact at least $6k usd for a single transaction each day.

Its quite easy for the government to monitor ALL of the transactions happening online with the use of a unified payment system model which is undoubtedly being developed for this purpose.  

That's true, but my point is how will they monitor the physical transactions. Are they going to install webcam everywhere? Or wiretap all their people's phone? It's easy to say you must not transact more than $100 in cash each day, but monitoring millions of people is not easy peasy.

[1] https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25-000-in-2020-12072710

[Pamadar]

It's true that cash being used for illegal transactions and so does other forms of means of payment including bitcoin. If a government stated to implement a rule to prevent cash abuse, that's their right to do, furthermore, it's more convenient to transact fiat currency through bank service, who today always carries so much cash in a suitcase with them?

Practically speaking  it's best to hand-carry digital assets than bringing cash inside your wallet, if you can pay everything without any efforts of
bringing fiat is more convenient. It's one of those best decisions coming from the government.

Securities and full control can be done if this proposal will materialize and probably handled accordingly.

[posi]

Firstly, Malaysia is not the first country to make this statement and the last time i checked most of the country later don't proceed with the process but if the government actually push this through it will definitely boost the use of crypto currency there.

It's true that cash being used for illegal transactions and so does other forms of means of payment including bitcoin. If a government stated to implement a rule to prevent cash abuse, that's their right to do, furthermore, it's more convenient to transact fiat currency through bank service, who today always carries so much cash in a suitcase with them?

Are you by any chance from Malaysia? Cause you said bitcoin was also used for illegal transactions and all crypto-fiat exchange in Malaysia are centralized.

[Xxmodded]

Malaysia want to limited cash transaction in 2020, will be digital currency transaction like bitcoin and altcoin limit too or not? maybe get bad impact if digital currency transaction limited in Malaysia because many investor can't get much profit with higher investing, the investor always get much profit with investment by using big amount for investing.

[exstasie]

Indirectly as a tax monitoring tool, with non-cash transactions, the possibility of tax avoidance will also be smaller. Why? Non-cash transactions make more money deposited in banks than elsewhere. Thus, tax avoidance is increasingly difficult.

Capital controls may be part of the rationale too: Malaysia central bank governor wants option of capital controls

They want to pull cash out of circulation. It's too easy to smuggle out of the country and dump on the offshore forwards markets, which is exactly what the central bank is afraid of. They are becoming increasingly worried about a financial crisis and the associated effects on the Ringgit.

[alyssa85]

Firstly, Malaysia is not the first country to make this statement and the last time i checked most of the country later don't proceed with the process but if the government actually push this through it will definitely boost the use of crypto currency there.

Will it boost cryptocurrency use? Or the use of Visa and Mastercard (with nice fat fees for both of them)?

[lobat999]

I see you have a valid point yet I was wondering where did the Malaysian Government got this idea?

Is there a precedent about this policy which was previously implemented before by other Governments and proved to have been effective?

Or is this is just a test bed and experiment for the Malaysian policy makers which I assume they don't know yet what will be the consequences of it if ever it will be finally implemented?

According to the experience that has occurred, especially in Indonesia close to Malaysia, smuggling USD 100,000 is very easy. The mode is as follows:

The Cross Border Cash Carrying (CBCC) rule requires everyone to report if they carry money equivalent to Rp 100 million if they cross a border area.

Through one of the ports close to Singapore, money launderers can go back and forth five times a day from Singapore to Indonesia, they usually come in groups of 8-15 people. Even so often the customs and immigration officers know them. They did not come for a vacation but to exchange money at a money changer.

Singapore utilizes the conditions of the surrounding countries which are rife with criminal acts of corruption to increase the country's foreign exchange. Singapore has large denominations of currencies (SGD 1000 = USD 735) and (SGD 10,000 = USD 7350). Due to complaints and requests from neighboring countries to stop the use of the SGD 1000 & SGD 10,000 fractions, Singapore stopped printing the SGD 10,000 fractions but refused to withdraw the fractions from circulation.

In Indonesia alone, the Singapore dollar is a prima donna for corruptors, every time there is a catch operation, a Singapore dollar is always found. The discovery and concern over this problem arose after corruption by one of the tax officers (lower level) in Indonesia worth USD 21 million. He was sentenced to 29 years in prison for 3 legal cases.

If that is the case, then lets see if it will be effective enough in curbing financial crimes so that it will become a model for nations that are also facing the same problem.

Now, I wish Governments at the same time could also strengthen financial crimes enforcement thru their concerned agencies because I think such policy would go in vain if there is no cooperation among different enforcement agencies including cooperation among neighboring countries which is vital in combating financial crimes. Imho.

[Hippocrypto]

Malaysia want to limited cash transaction in 2020, will be digital currency transaction like bitcoin and altcoin limit too or not? maybe get bad impact if digital currency transaction limited in Malaysia because many investor can't get much profit with higher investing, the investor always get much profit with investment by using big amount for investing.

If they're limiting cash transactions in 2020, probably there's a good impact to cryptocurrency but if not, I don't think it will limit the transaction of digital currency. The serious point here, if both fiat and cryptocurrency would be both limited, crypto price also be affected. What's great for big investors who've put their money in crypto, this is their best time for them to save their digital asset while it was still cheap to buy.

[Google+]

Firstly, Malaysia is not the first country to make this statement and the last time i checked most of the country later don't proceed with the process but if the government actually push this through it will definitely boost the use of crypto currency there.

Will it boost cryptocurrency use? Or the use of Visa and Mastercard (with nice fat fees for both of them)?

I think they will try to use and implement cryptocurrency for all payments in their country so that they can provide information about using cryptocurrency can be the right method or not, I really hope cryptocurrency can be applied there and can be used by many countries so that it can increase the use cryptocurrency and can have a good effect on the exchange.

[Colt81]

It is exhilarating because if cash transaction will be limited in Malaysia there is a huge chance that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will be recognized and became more popular because they will be focusing in online transaction or cashless, so there might be a chance that more people will be using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that would result of increasing of it's prices.

[Doell]

I read the problem is solved by electronic money oh my god but more fees will come out for shipping ,unfair policies for residents who have little money because the interbank costs will swell up bank that will benefit again and again ,quite sad and to overcome this I am sure too citizens will switch to using crypto and a big adoption will occur

[X-ray]

I read the problem is solved by electronic money oh my god but more fees will come out for shipping ,unfair policies for residents who have little money because the interbank costs will swell up bank that will benefit again and again ,quite sad and to overcome this I am sure too citizens will switch to using crypto and a big adoption will occur

Crypto too will have unbearable fee once it become popular enough to be overcrowding its own network just like what happened to bitcoin and ethereum every price spikes which means a lot more activities than usual. Although we may find a way to overcome the blockchain limit regarding to this but I do find your statement makes sense since digital cash will charge quite of the fee once their phase of burning money or in otherword marketing to gain userbase ended.

[stompix]

This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash.

I seriously wonder in what reality the authors of such articles live or if they do spend more than one-minute thinking before publishing this kind of articles:
So you have a limit of 25 000 myr or 6 000 $.

Newsflash:
https://www.europe-consommateurs.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/eu-consommateurs/PDFs/PDF_EN/Limit_for_cash_payments_in_EU.pdf

France 3000 € for fiscal residents in France (15 000 € for the non residents acting as a consumer – 3000 € if they act as a trader).
Spain Since November 19th, 2012, the limit is 2500€ (for Spain residents) and 15 000€ (for non residents).
Bulgaria  Limit up to 10 000 leva (approximately 5112 €).
Belgium  The Belgian law from 29 March 2012 limits the cash payments from 15.000 EUR to 5.000 EUR since 16
April 2012. In January 2014, the limit will be reduced to 3.000 EUR
and more...

Such limits have been imposed in Europe for a decade yet the author has just heard of such thing.
Doubtless...lols!

I read the problem is solved by electronic money oh my god but more fees will come out for shipping ,unfair policies for residents who have little money

Citizens who have little money are not dealing with 6000$ in cash each day to be affected by this!

That's true, but my point is how will they monitor the physical transactions. Are they going to install webcam everywhere? Or wiretap all their people's phone? It's easy to say you must not transact more than $100 in cash each day, but monitoring millions of people is not easy peasy.

Do authorities have a hidden cam on every car when issuing speed tickets?
Are they wiretapping all drug addicts to find out when they have an ounce of meth on them?
Are they spying on all the people in the country 24/7 to find out who is avoiding taxes?

Nope, of course.
There will be nothing like this, they already know who is dealing with large amounts of cash, they know what activities they should check, they know who will try to avoid those limits. And once the law is in place you just have to raid those businesses and check their books.

Let's be real here, how many people are dealing with such an amount in cahs every day in that country?
6000$ a day is a huge number even by US and western Europe standards. We're talking about 2 million$ a year.

[wozzek23]

Every country is trying their best now to limit their cash transaction and not just Malaysia alone, and in my own country, I even think that the policy is too string that you will have no choice than to do your transaction digitally because the tax they placed on the amount of money you wish to withdraw and even deposit is much, so they want a situation that people will begin to use digital cash and as we are getting to the age where virtually all government want to make their cash digital so that there can be less printing of money.

They might gradually start getting to that stage also where they will be forced to create one single currency using the blockchain technology and that will sure be cryptocurrency, so there is not country that can still escape this cryptocurrency technology.

[el kaka22]

Just because they limit the cash transactions doesn't mean that it will be digital currency right away.

It would make a big difference and would send a lot of people into bitcoin world however there is still credit and bank cards (debit card) and credit card etc etc, nowadays banks mobile apps even use the QR code payments so forth which means before bitcoin becomes too big in Malaysia there is just one enemy down but 5 more to go. That is really all around the world if you ask me , yeah we do use cash in our countries right now for example but how much cash are we really using?

Do you really use cash (paper money) like you used to? I personally don't. I use my banks debit card and I personally use my mobile app for almost everything I spend my money on.

[mersal]

It is exhilarating because if cash transaction will be limited in Malaysia there is a huge chance that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will be recognized and became more popular because they will be focusing in online transaction or cashless, so there might be a chance that more people will be using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that would result of increasing of it's prices.

Most of the transactions were cashless or digital now a days for that we don't need cryptos,only very less percentage of total fiat money in the world is in physical form others were in just digital figures of banks database so that government didn't change anything to be honest.

[CarnagexD]

Indirectly as a tax monitoring tool, with non-cash transactions, the possibility of tax avoidance will also be smaller. Why? Non-cash transactions make more money deposited in banks than elsewhere. Thus, tax avoidance is increasingly difficult.

Capital controls may be part of the rationale too: Malaysia central bank governor wants option of capital controls

Monetary policy such as capital control is not that needed for the moment since Malaysia's currency is not at risk, not even on edge to weaken its value. Some Malaysian economist already spoke about this saying that it is "premature" to be an option for now which is totally true.

They want to pull cash out of circulation. It's too easy to smuggle out of the country and dump on the offshore forwards markets, which is exactly what the central bank is afraid of. They are becoming increasingly worried about a financial crisis and the associated effects on the Ringgit.

Financial crisis is unlikely to happen unless Ringgit decline significantly. Putting digital currency on your country is a big challenge knowing it is more volatile than fiat currency, even having a limit like 50% cash and 50% crypto, still Malaysia would not be able to fully regulate it and will face future problems that associates to it. And isn't cryptocurrency are easier to dump? If I were the governor I would really find an alternative solution if they really want to limit cash, everyone can adjust and concrete.

[kaya11]

(Image grabbed from https://www.busonlineticket.com/blog/petronas-twin-towers-the-landmark-of-kuala-lumpur)

The country is set to implement an unprecedented restriction on the use of cash.^[1] This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash. Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

While some business communities are against such drastic measure as it would certainly affect their day to day operation, an idea pops out that they could actually circumvent this policy by adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.^[2] An ordinary household in Malaysia is said to spend around 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) per month, way below the 25,000 RM limit. But still, a lot are clamoring to increase the limit as the current proposed limit is way to low.

Would you care to share your thoughts on this? Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Sources:
[1]

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25-000-in-2020-12072710
• https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/11/08/business-community-says-no-to-rm25k-limit
• https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/11/07/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25000-next-year

[2] https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-usage-may-spike-following-cash-restrictions-in-malaysia/

It could give a positive effect on crypto space, those businessmen can't just move their huge sum of money in an instant if something bad is happening. It gives them fear-leading to huge dumping of the cash they've got leading the to other options such as buying stocks and other forms that can be traded by RM, now is the chance bitcoin should shine and be broadcasted on a place like this where crisis in the economy is present, they could make alternate decisions and therefore invest their money in bitcoin and other crypto, giving us more demand again.

[AbuBhakar]

It is exhilarating because if cash transaction will be limited in Malaysia there is a huge chance that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will be recognized and became more popular because they will be focusing in online transaction or cashless, so there might be a chance that more people will be using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that would result of increasing of it's prices.

Most of the transactions were cashless or digital now a days for that we don't need cryptos,only very less percentage of total fiat money in the world is in physical form others were in just digital figures of banks database so that government didn't change anything to be honest.

Mobile banking might be the intention of Malaysia but since some transaction in bank if like in my country is still laggy or have occurring maintenance then it's not gonna be effective and the vest way if we wanted a much easier and faster transactions is too use cryptocurrency if those store I used to buy stuffs accept crypto I'll be willingly pay via crypto.

[Xxmodded]

It is exhilarating because if cash transaction will be limited in Malaysia there is a huge chance that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will be recognized and became more popular because they will be focusing in online transaction or cashless, so there might be a chance that more people will be using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that would result of increasing of it's prices.

Most of the transactions were cashless or digital now a days for that we don't need cryptos,only very less percentage of total fiat money in the world is in physical form others were in just digital figures of banks database so that government didn't change anything to be honest.

Mobile banking might be the intention of Malaysia but since some transaction in bank if like in my country is still laggy or have occurring maintenance then it's not gonna be effective and the vest way if we wanted a much easier and faster transactions is too use cryptocurrency if those store I used to buy stuffs accept crypto I'll be willingly pay via crypto.

How about with investor use much value cash money for their transaction, will limited on Malaysia and give bad effect for them? I think is not good implementation to limited cash transaction, by higher volume cash transaction every day can give opportunities for get much profit but when cash transaction have limited will give bad impact with profit.

[Sithara007]

I'm sure the crime syndicates they say they are trying to stop would just find other ways to launder all that money. They can probably even spread out the transactions among several accomplices.

It's not going to affect the average household so I don't think people are going to complain much. Maybe they are planning to go the way of India and demonetize the larger denominations and then either replace them with newer ones or just straight up remove them and have most large transactions be electronic (which can be easier to keep track of).

The government had implemented similar measures here in India, and I have to say that they failed. Most of the transactions are still being done using physical cash (despite the government implementing a maximum threshold on the amount of physical cash that an individual can keep with him). And I don't have any reason to believe that similar actions can be successful in Malaysia.

[lobat999]

The government had implemented similar measures here in India, and I have to say that they failed. Most of the transactions are still being done using physical cash (despite the government implementing a maximum threshold on the amount of physical cash that an individual can keep with him). And I don't have any reason to believe that similar actions can be successful in Malaysia.

Good to know this! But lets not throw away our hopes just yet in fighting financial crimes. Maybe the Malaysian Government will have a familiar strategy as what you've describe but will also add some other useful policies to make it more effective.

And who knows?, maybe the Malaysian Government will be more successful on implementing that policy as compared to India that could result to its effective implementation. So lets see what will happen next.

[GideonGono]

The government had implemented similar measures here in India, and I have to say that they failed. Most of the transactions are still being done using physical cash (despite the government implementing a maximum threshold on the amount of physical cash that an individual can keep with him). And I don't have any reason to believe that similar actions can be successful in Malaysia.

Good to know this! But lets not throw away our hopes just yet in fighting financial crimes. Maybe the Malaysian Government will have a familiar strategy as what you've describe but will also add some other useful policies to make it more effective.

And who knows?, maybe the Malaysian Government will be more successful on implementing that policy as compared to India that could result to its effective implementation. So lets see what will happen next.

The have a plan that they do that and there are many useful things or plan before they implemented because they need to agree by a lot of powered government before they implement the rules. But sometimes there are some disadvantage of the rules they implemented.

[Betwrong]

Firstly, Malaysia is not the first country to make this statement and the last time i checked most of the country later don't proceed with the process but if the government actually push this through it will definitely boost the use of crypto currency there.

Will it boost cryptocurrency use? Or the use of Visa and Mastercard (with nice fat fees for both of them)?

I think your question itself contains the answer to it. Although Bitcoin is not recognized as money by the Malaysian government, it is neither banned in the country, and people are free to use it as well as elsewhere in the world where it's not banned. So, I think it's obvious that, if Bitcoin will not be banned in Malaysia around the same time the restriction on the use of cash comes into force, some people will choose to use it, in order to avoid the "nice fat fees", you've mentioned.

[Blackdeath]

(Image grabbed from https://www.busonlineticket.com/blog/petronas-twin-towers-the-landmark-of-kuala-lumpur)

The country is set to implement an unprecedented restriction on the use of cash.^[1] This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash. Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

While some business communities are against such drastic measure as it would certainly affect their day to day operation, an idea pops out that they could actually circumvent this policy by adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.^[2] An ordinary household in Malaysia is said to spend around 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) per month, way below the 25,000 RM limit. But still, a lot are clamoring to increase the limit as the current proposed limit is way to low.

Would you care to share your thoughts on this? Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Sources:
[1]

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25-000-in-2020-12072710
• https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/11/08/business-community-says-no-to-rm25k-limit
• https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/11/07/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25000-next-year

[2] https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-usage-may-spike-following-cash-restrictions-in-malaysia/

In my own opinion, if other countries like Malaysia limits cash transaction there will be a huge chance that bitcoin would increased it's popularity that more people will be using bitcoin and cryptocurrency rather than using cash because it will be convenient for them to purchased online and in real life. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would increased it's price if this happened in every country all over the world.

[NeuroticFish]

the 25,000 RM limit

In my country (Romania) such limit exists for some years now. Just iirc it's about 10000 EUR / cash transaction, so 45000 RM.
And I can tell that I know only 2 cases average Joe faces these limits: when selling/buying a home (house, apartment) or a (new) car, which operations usually happen through bank / credit anyway.
So I think that it's not a real / big problem.

[teosanru]

For your information this is not the first time that such a measure to limit cash transactions has been made by any country. India is following this rule for quite some time. The businesses around the country are not allowed to spend any amount exceeding ₹10000 per day to single person otherwise same will not be allowed as an expense under Income Tax. Moreover with some new rules even receipts exceeding ₹20000 have been circumvented and have to be notified to the income tax department. This however is for reduction of tax evasion done due to flow of black money. Moreover Banks are even charging cash handling charges to further reduce the flow of cash in Economy.

[panganib999]

Well I understand where Malaysia is coming from, the country is very counter reactive for every unpleasant activities such as this, to curb elicit activities and to  strenghten the country's financial integrity. Suggesting malaysian people to use bitcoin as an alternative payment method is a good idea, it will surely boost up bitcoin economy once people started following it especially if big businesses do as said since bitcoin's volatility is affected by how high or the demand is due to the limited supply of it. But the problem is, people could still use online transferring of money through banks and still use fiat in order to do so, This is why I don't think this act of malaysia is enough to push people of the latter into using bitcoin since there's still some way close to what they traditionally know they could still resort.

[daarul50]

Just because they limit the cash transactions doesn't mean that it will be digital currency right away.

It would make a big difference and would send a lot of people into bitcoin world however there is still credit and bank cards (debit card) and credit card etc etc, nowadays banks mobile apps even use the QR code payments so forth which means before bitcoin becomes too big in Malaysia there is just one enemy down but 5 more to go. That is really all around the world if you ask me , yeah we do use cash in our countries right now for example but how much cash are we really using?

Do you really use cash (paper money) like you used to? I personally don't. I use my banks debit card and I personally use my mobile app for almost everything I spend my money on.

classic overconfident crypto supporters , you can not blame about this, the excitement is too high haha

bitcoin in malaysia is not fully friendly, they tried to regulate everything involved cryptocurrency but the strict financial regulator in malaysia still has a heart to make a local fintech -crypto based- company to grow by making the regulation a bit easier.
what is the correlation? the news about malaysia to impose cash transaction limit should be a big opportunity for those local fintech to show off to takes a stage in the business.

this situation is a bit complex but for the crypto supporters it is just simply the day of crypto currency become mainstream used everywhere in malaysia is just really near. i am not sure to agree with this , i only hope it could really come true.

[Mometaskers]

I'm sure the crime syndicates they say they are trying to stop would just find other ways to launder all that money. They can probably even spread out the transactions among several accomplices.

It's not going to affect the average household so I don't think people are going to complain much. Maybe they are planning to go the way of India and demonetize the larger denominations and then either replace them with newer ones or just straight up remove them and have most large transactions be electronic (which can be easier to keep track of).

The government had implemented similar measures here in India, and I have to say that they failed. Most of the transactions are still being done using physical cash (despite the government implementing a maximum threshold on the amount of physical cash that an individual can keep with him). And I don't have any reason to believe that similar actions can be successful in Malaysia.

I heard there were raids to take away money from the people, did those raids stop? Last I heard the government there just replaced the demonetized banknotes with a newer design. If that was that case then it was indeed a failure since IIRC they wanted people to just use smaller bills (forcing them to go through banks for large transactions).

But who knows, this might work for Malaysia since they are not really restricting the use and ownership of the bills, just putting a limit on use which many estimate is enough for most people's needs ($6k is already a large sum in SE Asia). IMHO the limit should be per transaction. If the average monthly expenses is RM 8K I don't think people would spend that much in just a single transaction. Of course all these regulations mean nothing to the informal sector.

[Betwrong]

the 25,000 RM limit

In my country (Romania) such limit exists for some years now. Just iirc it's about 10000 EUR / cash transaction, so 45000 RM.
And I can tell that I know only 2 cases average Joe faces these limits: when selling/buying a home (house, apartment) or a (new) car, which operations usually happen through bank / credit anyway.
So I think that it's not a real / big problem.

I agree. It can be a problem for high-end criminals and corrupt officials, but for regular people it can't be. In fact, common people can benefit from the restriction, because, instead of being stolen and laundered, money will flow in the right direction: to public schools, state hospitals, etc.

As for the legit firms in Malaysia, who regularly, each day, buy goods and services with the amounts that surpass the 25,000 RM($6,000 USD) limit, I don't think they usually pay with cash for something priced over that limit.

[auntyjmary]

This would be a good policy if implemented well and with the cooperation of the citizens. There are many challenges that comes with the use of cash and not just limited to money counterfeiting alone. The world is gradually moving  towards a cashless system, this is just the beginning many innovations which many other countries would follow.

[Vishnu.Reang]

This would be a good policy if implemented well and with the cooperation of the citizens. There are many challenges that comes with the use of cash and not just limited to money counterfeiting alone. The world is gradually moving  towards a cashless system, this is just the beginning many innovations which many other countries would follow.

No one will be objecting to such measures if it is done on a voluntary basis. But here they are limiting the use of physical cash and forcing the citizens to use digital payment options. And this is where I am not comfortable with the whole idea. Whether I want to use physical cash or digital cash, is up to me. The government has no right to dictate the terms here.

[rose9696]

This is a positive move of the Singapore government to support the 4.0 technology industry.
I appreciate this because when we pay with cryptocurrencies or credit card currencies it is faster and the service is faster.
A world that is growing and accelerating will need technology. what a smart move!

[Obito]

This is so sudden for a certain plan to be on run. Transactions specially big businesses are just merely a daily or a basic happening for a big businesses. Banning it won't make a hindrance for them although it filters out transaction. It would just turn out to be alot of work like when you have a big transaction and it is not allowed anymore it would be cut off into two so that it would get pass through from restrictions.

[JeffBrad12]

This is a positive move of the Singapore government to support the 4.0 technology industry.
I appreciate this because when we pay with cryptocurrencies or credit card currencies it is faster and the service is faster.
A world that is growing and accelerating will need technology. what a smart move!

LOL this is malaysia's government and it's not like restricting the use of Cash will do any better but just restricting people from doing what they want. Yeah paying using card is fast and more but you will ended up paying unnecessary fee that should not be there in the first place if you are using cash. although using cash sometimes inconvenient but people have option right? it's always better to keep people choose for themselves whether to use cash or card because restricting like that is not a good solution even when the problem isnt there in the first place.

[EdvinZ]

The Malaysian government wants to control all cash flows of citizens, and therefore adopted such prohibiting laws. Perhaps they thus want to bring the whole business out of the shadows and counter corruption. But this is not freedom, in a free state everyone is free to decide in what form to carry out monetary transactions.

[abhiseshakana]

No one will be objecting to such measures if it is done on a voluntary basis. But here they are limiting the use of physical cash and forcing the citizens to use digital payment options. And this is where I am not comfortable with the whole idea. Whether I want to use physical cash or digital cash, is up to me. The government has no right to dictate the terms here.

LOL this is malaysia's government and it's not like restricting the use of Cash will do any better but just restricting people from doing what they want. Yeah paying using card is fast and more but you will ended up paying unnecessary fee that should not be there in the first place if you are using cash. although using cash sometimes inconvenient but people have option right? it's always better to keep people choose for themselves whether to use cash or card because restricting like that is not a good solution even when the problem isnt there in the first place.

The role of government in a country is very important. Without the government of a country, stability will not be achieved and will become weak and easily swayed by outside forces. Obedience to the Government will create security and order and prosperity.

The main reason for limiting cash transactions is, with the use of cash, which aims to complicate efforts to trace the origin of money originating from criminal acts, the Actor tries to break the tracking of the flow of funds to the recipient of the funds by conducting cash transactions. This is different from large amounts of non-cash transactions that can be tracked by financial transaction analysts. Restrictions aim to minimize the space for corruptors and criminals to eliminate traces or launder their money.

Everyone likes the freedom to choose the type of transaction that we want to do, but as citizens, we must submit to government decisions. Besides that, I think that the limitation of cash transactions of MYR 25,000 targets the upper-middle class, not the lower middle class. if someone is clean, there is no need to worry about following this rule because the positive values are more than the negative side.

[Getmon]

The Malaysian government wants to control all cash flows of citizens, and therefore adopted such prohibiting laws. Perhaps they thus want to bring the whole business out of the shadows and counter corruption. But this is not freedom, in a free state everyone is free to decide in what form to carry out monetary transactions.

The people of Malaysia cannot be free as to use cash whenever and whatever way they want. They are free but if they are using fiat to purchase illegal stuff such as illegal drugs, illegal arms, services that are also illegal, bribery, and so on, they should be stopped by the government at all cost. I guess the reason why Malaysia started to implement this law is to curb the proliferation of these problems.

[Amel]

the 25,000 RM limit

In my country (Romania) such limit exists for some years now. Just iirc it's about 10000 EUR / cash transaction, so 45000 RM.
And I can tell that I know only 2 cases average Joe faces these limits: when selling/buying a home (house, apartment) or a (new) car, which operations usually happen through bank / credit anyway.
So I think that it's not a real / big problem.

I agree. It can be a problem for high-end criminals and corrupt officials, but for regular people it can't be. In fact, common people can benefit from the restriction, because, instead of being stolen and laundered, money will flow in the right direction: to public schools, state hospitals, etc.

As for the legit firms in Malaysia, who regularly, each day, buy goods and services with the amounts that surpass the 25,000 RM($6,000 USD) limit, I don't think they usually pay with cash for something priced over that limit.

Well, maybe for lower class people it's not too problematic but this will be a problem for private companies or those who have businesses. Surely their business will be hampered by transaction limits that are too low, although not all of them do cash transactions but it will be complicated when having to make transactions.

Maybe it is better for banks in Malaysia to provide special bank accounts for companies to more freely run their business without having to be hampered by this regulation.

[Indymoney]

The Malaysian government wants to control all cash flows of citizens, and therefore adopted such prohibiting laws. Perhaps they thus want to bring the whole business out of the shadows and counter corruption. But this is not freedom, in a free state everyone is free to decide in what form to carry out monetary transactions.

The people of Malaysia cannot be free as to use cash whenever and whatever way they want. They are free but if they are using fiat to purchase illegal stuff such as illegal drugs, illegal arms, services that are also illegal, bribery, and so on, they should be stopped by the government at all cost. I guess the reason why Malaysia started to implement this law is to curb the proliferation of these problems.

These thing can helpful but need some good time and some very hard work and long term plaining as many already mention India already try to do this but sadly fail as mostly peoples thinking Malaysia is also cannot do this but may be we are wrong and they already prepared and done all home work for implementing law like this and can control all.

[buwaytress]

My bank actually called me the same day those implementations came out, probably because there were 2 transactions in the past years that well exceeded those amounts. It was actually for work, I was helping out my employer branch to transfer money, I was the only non-sanctioned nationality in the country at the time and strangely enough, it all went through. I did need to clarify then, and they were reluctantly satisfied but my point is this cash limit applies to electronic and wire transfers (which is what I used) as well.

I have to say though, the 25k MYR limit is really quite huge. The article says 8k a month is the average, but I can tell you that my own family of 5 spends about 3k. And the average wage in my state for a family of 2 earners is 3k.

So really, this is definitely targeting high-volume businesses and individuals, and this country has a long history of helping launderers =p

I think the ruling is fine, and if people have an issue, well, Bitcoin.

[ray_saeed]

Why bitcoiners are sure that people will use crypto instead cash there?

[Getmon]

My bank actually called me the same day those implementations came out, probably because there were 2 transactions in the past years that well exceeded those amounts. It was actually for work, I was helping out my employer branch to transfer money, I was the only non-sanctioned nationality in the country at the time and strangely enough, it all went through. I did need to clarify then, and they were reluctantly satisfied but my point is this cash limit applies to electronic and wire transfers (which is what I used) as well.

I have to say though, the 25k MYR limit is really quite huge. The article says 8k a month is the average, but I can tell you that my own family of 5 spends about 3k. And the average wage in my state for a family of 2 earners is 3k.

So really, this is definitely targeting high-volume businesses and individuals, and this country has a long history of helping launderers =p

I think the ruling is fine, and if people have an issue, well, Bitcoin.

We have here someone who is really living inside the country where this law is going to be implemented. And from this post, I guess there is no problem with this law if you are not involved in transactions that are somehow suspicious and might go under the radar of the government. Even if you will be called up by the authorities, for as long as the transaction involved is clean and legit, you will not be afraid to face them and answer all their questions.

[vintages]

Why bitcoiners are sure that people will use crypto instead cash there?

It's a matter of time before the adoption is circulated, thus people will have no option than to adopt and use BTC.
If the government wants to limit cash flow, there should be a substitute for it which resort to it been cryptocurrency. Moreover, the said policy is weird though, its more like telling people not to have or spend money (their money). Whereas, they need money for daily activities.

[Edraket31]

Why bitcoiners are sure that people will use crypto instead cash there?

It's a matter of time before the adoption is circulated, thus people will have no option than to adopt and use BTC.
If the government wants to limit cash flow, there should be a substitute for it which resort to it been cryptocurrency. Moreover, the said policy is weird though, its more like telling people not to have or spend money (their money). Whereas, they need money for daily activities.

It's not that people don't have option, of course people has option to do the things they want and to invest on the things they think if profitable, and for crypto, we are all aware that it is our future, we might have people who doesn't like this for now, but time will come when they can check and see the advantage of having a cashless society then for sure they will also adopt and they will like it, especially if the government legalize it, then no question at all.

[posi]

Firstly, Malaysia is not the first country to make this statement and the last time i checked most of the country later don't proceed with the process but if the government actually push this through it will definitely boost the use of crypto currency there.

Will it boost cryptocurrency use? Or the use of Visa and Mastercard (with nice fat fees for both of them)?

I think your question itself contains the answer to it. Although Bitcoin is not recognized as money by the Malaysian government, it is neither banned in the country, and people are free to use it as well as elsewhere in the world where it's not banned. So, I think it's obvious that, if Bitcoin will not be banned in Malaysia around the same time the restriction on the use of cash comes into force, some people will choose to use it, in order to avoid the "nice fat fees", you've mentioned.

That's correct ,their government didn't endorse nor against cryptocurrency use but i don't think the cash transaction limit was all about boosting cryptocurrency or credit card use and as Betwrong said the restriction was to force/stop people from a using the unlimited cash agreement which was once authorized by the Malaysian government.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Well, maybe for lower class people it's not too problematic but this will be a problem for private companies or those who have businesses.

I think it was mentioned that businesses were exempt from this limitation. 

This is almost unbelievable to me, that a gov't would limit citizens' access to cash.  If that isn't a huge slap in the face and a threat to basic freedoms, I don't know what is.  Malaysian people ought to be protesting in the street, even if they wouldn't be affected by the limitation.

I think the Malaysian gov't is using a backhanded method of making its people go cashless, by using the excuse that large amounts of cash in people's hands equals crime.  The U.S. gov't stopped making bills larger than $100 for that reason, but at least there's no limit to what people in the states can carry.  Heaven help us if that ever happens.

[hulla]

My bank actually called me the same day those implementations came out, probably because there were 2 transactions in the past years that well exceeded those amounts. It was actually for work, I was helping out my employer branch to transfer money, I was the only non-sanctioned nationality in the country at the time and strangely enough, it all went through. I did need to clarify then, and they were reluctantly satisfied but my point is this cash limit applies to electronic and wire transfers (which is what I used) as well.

I have to say though, the 25k MYR limit is really quite huge. The article says 8k a month is the average, but I can tell you that my own family of 5 spends about 3k. And the average wage in my state for a family of 2 earners is 3k.

So really, this is definitely targeting high-volume businesses and individuals, and this country has a long history of helping launderers =p

I think the ruling is fine, and if people have an issue, well, Bitcoin.

I'm also aware about the act of helping money launderers done within the country cause i once have a friend there and with your explanation the cash transaction limit was implemented as a solution. Although Malaysia stance was not against bitcoin but i don't see any reason why the cash limit transaction will be favourable to crypto currency as most people thought.

[tonyvo2017]

This is one of the great actions of the Malaysian government. They have been realizing the benefits of applying technology in everyday life.
indeed, blockchain technology and electronic wallet applications are very convenient for payment.
Five years ago, we had to run to the post office to pay for internet and electricity bills, ... but now e-wallet systems will solve it in seconds.
So I really admire and appreciate Malaysia and they are so smart.

[suzanne5223]

Well, maybe for lower class people it's not too problematic but this will be a problem for private companies or those who have businesses.

I think it was mentioned that businesses were exempt from this limitation. 

This is almost unbelievable to me, that a gov't would limit citizens' access to cash.  If that isn't a huge slap in the face and a threat to basic freedoms, I don't know what is.  Malaysian people ought to be protesting in the street, even if they wouldn't be affected by the limitation.

I think the Malaysian gov't is using a backhanded method of making its people go cashless, by using the excuse that large amounts of cash in people's hands equals crime.  The U.S. gov't stopped making bills larger than $100 for that reason, but at least there's no limit to what people in the states can carry.  Heaven help us if that ever happens.

Where some people love the idea of the Malaysian government cash transaction restrictions, you think their actions was just a huge step in the face and the last time I checked the Malaysian government are among one of the reasonable government in the Asian continent. Read the message posted by Buwaytress which seems to be from there and you'll understand the reason the restriction is important.

[TheGreatPython]

Maybe they will adopt cryptocurrency, but I don't know the particular they will be adopting. Some of them might not like to adopt Bitcoins because of volatility.

This has always been the problem with people adopting the Bitcoin as a currency, they are always afraid that they might store their money with it and the price will drop and they will end up losing their money in it.
If the FB Libra project was a success I can imagine that a lot of people will start adopting it quickly since it's a stable coin and backed up by some assets that will keep the price at the same level with the US Dollar.

[buwaytress]

~snip

I think the ruling is fine, and if people have an issue, well, Bitcoin.

We have here someone who is really living inside the country where this law is going to be implemented. And from this post, I guess there is no problem with this law if you are not involved in transactions that are somehow suspicious and might go under the radar of the government. Even if you will be called up by the authorities, for as long as the transaction involved is clean and legit, you will not be afraid to face them and answer all their questions.

Yup! I lived there for many years, I don't now but I still do regular transactions with Malaysia and other countries. It's almost as if every time I go to a country I continue to transact with it even after I leave. I even almost kind of pay tax in 2 different countries, even though I don't need to, but I feel like I owe it to them haha. Yeah, a tax loving global citizen =\

But anyway yeah, the law will be implemented, it won't affect anyone I know, and if it does affect you, report it, be clean, and you'll be fine.

I know and respect the rights to privacy, but this is really not about that. I get the calls all the time, other than the slight annoyances, I've been fine for 20 years now.

And if it stops being fine, I'll have Bitcoin as an alternative (and already it is beginning to take over some transactions!).

[Sithara007]

Maybe they will adopt cryptocurrency, but I don't know the particular they will be adopting. Some of them might not like to adopt Bitcoins because of volatility.

No country is going to "adopt" cryptocurrency, because that would mean the destruction of their own national currency, and losing the control over the economy and the citizens. There are nations such as Japan, Germany, Singapore and Switzerland who tolerate cryptocurrency to a great degree, because their national currencies are very strong, and right now Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency doesn't pose a great deal of danger to their economy or the government control. But that doesn't mean that they are going to adopt cryptocurrency.

[AniviaBtc]

I also agree with the side of investors and business owners since their daily transactions would be capped and their profit as well. They might look into cryptocurrencies because even digital modes of payments by banks that use also fiat would be affected by such policy. And this could pose an increase in market demand, especially to Bitcoin since it leads the market and is much reliable than other alts.

It's because of the production of fiat money is incredibly increasing so that their currency becomes useless. That's the reason why in other countries, they limit their production of cash.

Everything will be affected by this if they continue banning or limiting the number of cash or fiat money that is being used in everyday lives. The important role of limiting the production of cash is to promote and develop the use of cryptocurrency as the primary payment for transactions.

Bitcoin is really dominant and powerful and can make a big change in banks and any part of the world 10 years from now. Digital transactions are very common in our generation and I think the increase in market demand will surely fit in.

[aardvark15]

This is probably the trend in the future. More and more of my daily transactions in America are cashless. Whether it’s credit card payments, PayPal, or direct bank transfers, most transactions I do are not using cash.

[abhiseshakana]

I think it was mentioned that businesses were exempt from this limitation. 

This is almost unbelievable to me, that a gov't would limit citizens' access to cash.  If that isn't a huge slap in the face and a threat to basic freedoms, I don't know what is.  Malaysian people ought to be protesting in the street, even if they wouldn't be affected by the limitation.

I think the Malaysian gov't is using a backhanded method of making its people go cashless, by using the excuse that large amounts of cash in people's hands equals crime.  The U.S. gov't stopped making bills larger than $100 for that reason, but at least there's no limit to what people in the states can carry.  Heaven help us if that ever happens.

The limitation is not about the amount of cash they can have, but the number of cash transactions that can be done by individuals or companies. We don't yet know how the regulation is written in the bill, per transaction or per certain period of time. If per transaction, we can divide one large transaction into several small cash transactions. If per person per transaction per new day is really limiting.

The policy of limiting cash transactions is not a threat to basic freedom but instead is a good tool to protect the basic freedom of society from corruptors and criminals. Corruption money can be diverted to empower people's desires, such as health, education and equitable distribution of infrastructure.

The idea of ​​limiting cash transactions has already been applied in several countries and in fact, cash is indeed used to avoid tracking. 100% of arrest operations by the Corruption Eradication Committee in Indonesia are always obtained in cash (US dollars, Singapore dollars or Rupiah) in a fantastic amount. When one of the corruptors was arrested in Indonesia in his safe deposit box, he found a cash amount of USD 5 million that was allegedly the result of corruption.

Restrictions on cash transactions will certainly affect transactions in remote areas that rely on cash transactions for the purchase of real sample items that I will face if there are restrictions on cash transactions for payment of purchases of live lobsters to fishermen whose value is around USD 8000 / transaction. the fishermen refused to use the transfer method because the cash would be immediately distributed to divers after depositing the lobster to me.

[rdluffy]

It's insane thinking about limitations about our own money, and about the limit of governments
Otherside is the fact that who make some huge transactions in cash? It's dangerous nowadays

About the effect in BTC, I don't think people will start to use just to this reason, but can be a good advertise to BTC in this country

[naikturun]

It is not certain that Malaysia will impose or legalize bitcoins they should also consider it in various aspects.
I think they will do another way first, before actually doing this.
I really like if the development of BTC and Crypto is wider, but it is not easy and fast.

[Betwrong]

~The article says 8k a month is the average, but I can tell you that my own family of 5 spends about 3k. And the average wage in my state for a family of 2 earners is 3k.

This is interesting because I too think 8k MYR for one family per month is an exaggerated amount for a country like Malaysia. It's almost 2,000 USD, and I thought an average Malaysian family lives on much less than that. But what is literally said there is "An ordinary household in Malaysia is said to spend around 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) per month", and now I think, maybe "household" doesn't mean "family"? I've never been to Malaysia, and I have little knowledge about how people live there. Is it possible that by "household" they mean 2-3 families living under the same roof?

[magneto]

Probably just first in a series of countries to do so.

Australia is trying to limit cash use as well, with more and more limits imposed on cash deposits and cash based transactions. This severely limits the utility of cash, which seems like a good thing on the surface, but really takes away some of the fungibility and reliability of the payment system.

This could be an area where BTC could fill in once again, re-creating the fungibility that cash once had.

[clickerz]

My bank actually called me the same day those implementations came out, probably because there were 2 transactions in the past years that well exceeded those amounts. It was actually for work, I was helping out my employer branch to transfer money, I was the only non-sanctioned nationality in the country at the time and strangely enough, it all went through. I did need to clarify then, and they were reluctantly satisfied but my point is this cash limit applies to electronic and wire transfers (which is what I used) as well.

I have to say though, the 25k MYR limit is really quite huge. The article says 8k a month is the average, but I can tell you that my own family of 5 spends about 3k. And the average wage in my state for a family of 2 earners is 3k.

So really, this is definitely targeting high-volume businesses and individuals, and this country has a long history of helping launderers =p

I think the ruling is fine, and if people have an issue, well, Bitcoin.

This is interesting, but I think Malaysia wants to curb corruption, money laundering, and other financial fraud and illegal activities. Also, I think they may have exceptions for big corporations and businesses as this limit may jeopardize their operations. @buwaytress you are correct, bitcoin will have a great role for this.

[shield132]

I have one question to people in their government, are they sane? Where's the same?
Government has problems inside, not as good policemen as needed and for various reasons, number of illegal activities are increased and in order to fix this, they limit usage of cash? Hey, what about elder people who don't use visa/master cards, can't do bank transactions or don't have access to computer/internet? Because fool people can't fix something, they found another way- fix things by limiting people who have no duty of it.
Personally I don't find this action fair, am I doing something illegal by buying foods in supermarket via cash? Why it has to be limited?

[Betwrong]

I have one question to people in their government, are they sane? Where's the same?
Government has problems inside, not as good policemen as needed and for various reasons, number of illegal activities are increased and in order to fix this, they limit usage of cash? Hey, what about elder people who don't use visa/master cards, can't do bank transactions or don't have access to computer/internet? Because fool people can't fix something, they found another way- fix things by limiting people who have no duty of it.
Personally I don't find this action fair, am I doing something illegal by buying foods in supermarket via cash? Why it has to be limited?

It's not about buying foods in supermarket. If the restriction will be implemented, people who buy food, clothes and various items for their daily needs with cash won't be affected at all, because the proposed limit for a single transaction is 25,000 MYR(almost $6,000 USD). Regular people rarely, if ever, buy something with that amount of cash at once.

[sapnu]

I have one question to people in their government, are they sane? Where's the same?
Government has problems inside, not as good policemen as needed and for various reasons, number of illegal activities are increased and in order to fix this, they limit usage of cash? Hey, what about elder people who don't use visa/master cards, can't do bank transactions or don't have access to computer/internet? Because fool people can't fix something, they found another way- fix things by limiting people who have no duty of it.
Personally I don't find this action fair, am I doing something illegal by buying foods in supermarket via cash? Why it has to be limited?

It's not about buying foods in supermarket. If the restriction will be implemented, people who buy food, clothes and various items for their daily needs with cash won't be affected at all, because the proposed limit for a single transaction is 25,000 MYR(almost $6,000 USD). Regular people rarely, if ever, buy something with that amount of cash at once.

Maybe it has a good side in which they are able to use cryptocurrency more, they are using that for different purposes like they can use it as payment method, knowing that cryptocurrency is good at that, having fastest transaction than fiat. And also it is way secure than fiat, I believe that it has a good impact on the community especially in the crypto community since more buyers of tokens are coming. But the government should have a better solution to that, because how do they buy their need if they dont have any way of transaction like ATM's.

[X-ray]

Probably just first in a series of countries to do so.

Australia is trying to limit cash use as well, with more and more limits imposed on cash deposits and cash based transactions. This severely limits the utility of cash, which seems like a good thing on the surface, but really takes away some of the fungibility and reliability of the payment system.

This could be an area where BTC could fill in once again, re-creating the fungibility that cash once had.

Wait until they limit something that are in their way to take over the control to all people's money. this time they are limitting the cash transaction tomorrow they will limit the use of crypto or even ban it because it opposes the initial idea of why they are limiting cash which is to force people into using the banking or even digital system. Government that always limit about something like this is no good at all and people shoud have more right to what they could do. it's their money after all not the government's even if the limit is big enough but there are some people who did that transaction surpassing the limit.

[Xxmodded]

Probably just first in a series of countries to do so.

Australia is trying to limit cash use as well, with more and more limits imposed on cash deposits and cash based transactions. This severely limits the utility of cash, which seems like a good thing on the surface, but really takes away some of the fungibility and reliability of the payment system.

This could be an area where BTC could fill in once again, re-creating the fungibility that cash once had.

Wait until they limit something that are in their way to take over the control to all people's money. this time they are limitting the cash transaction tomorrow they will limit the use of crypto or even ban it because it opposes the initial idea of why they are limiting cash which is to force people into using the banking or even digital system. Government that always limit about something like this is no good at all and people shoud have more right to what they could do. it's their money after all not the government's even if the limit is big enough but there are some people who did that transaction surpassing the limit.

When have power and many people agree for limit cash transaction maybe at the future many thing can be happen in Malaysia like limit digital transaction like bitcoin and altcoin, I think not good way to limit cash transaction because many people buy and sell something to get much profit, if cash limit transaction have deal many market will gone because some person have reached their transaction before.

[drachman]

The country is set to implement an unprecedented restriction on the use of cash.^[1] This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash. Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

While some business communities are against such drastic measure as it would certainly affect their day to day operation, an idea pops out that they could actually circumvent this policy by adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.^[2] An ordinary household in Malaysia is said to spend around 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) per month, way below the 25,000 RM limit. But still, a lot are clamoring to increase the limit as the current proposed limit is way to low.

Would you care to share your thoughts on this? Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Sources:
[1]

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25-000-in-2020-12072710
• https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/11/08/business-community-says-no-to-rm25k-limit
• https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/11/07/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25000-next-year

[2] https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-usage-may-spike-following-cash-restrictions-in-malaysia/

This has been a tendency for governments all over the world for decades, they want to eliminate cash and in order to do so they are going to use every excuse that they can find and they have decided to try to scare people away by saying that only criminals use something like cash, something which we know it's not true, fortunately we do not we need to look for a solution for this issue since it already exist and its name is bitcoin, let's see if they can find a way to limit digital cash.

[NathanJB]

The country is set to implement an unprecedented restriction on the use of cash.^[1] This is doubtless the first time that a country is to implement such bizarre measure to counter the abuse of cash. Somehow, this national policy is implying that cash, at least within the country, is being abused for various illegal activities.

While some business communities are against such drastic measure as it would certainly affect their day to day operation, an idea pops out that they could actually circumvent this policy by adopting the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.^[2] An ordinary household in Malaysia is said to spend around 8,000 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) per month, way below the 25,000 RM limit. But still, a lot are clamoring to increase the limit as the current proposed limit is way to low.

Would you care to share your thoughts on this? Will this really be a window for significant growth of Bitcoin or crypto adoption in this Southeast Asian country?

Sources:
[1]

• https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25-000-in-2020-12072710
• https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/11/08/business-community-says-no-to-rm25k-limit
• https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/11/07/malaysia-to-impose-cash-transaction-limit-of-rm25000-next-year

[2] https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-usage-may-spike-following-cash-restrictions-in-malaysia/

This has been a tendency for governments all over the world for decades, they want to eliminate cash and in order to do so they are going to use every excuse that they can find and they have decided to try to scare people away by saying that only criminals use something like cash, something which we know it's not true, fortunately we do not we need to look for a solution for this issue since it already exist and its name is bitcoin, let's see if they can find a way to limit digital cash.

I guess this is all for the control of the use of cash. You and I know that cash can be abused. In fact, it is already used by many criminals. Drug lords, terrorists, and other huge syndicates are mostly using cash. This is actually detrimental to the economy of the country in one way or another because by limiting the use of cash, the people will be limited in their spending and expenses. That affects the economy. This might really be another reason for the people in this country to use crypto instead.

[Sithara007]

I guess this is all for the control of the use of cash. You and I know that cash can be abused. In fact, it is already used by many criminals. Drug lords, terrorists, and other huge syndicates are mostly using cash. This is actually detrimental to the economy of the country in one way or another because by limiting the use of cash, the people will be limited in their spending and expenses. That affects the economy. This might really be another reason for the people in this country to use crypto instead.

WTF man? Do you want to make physical cash illegal just because a few criminals use it? And do you really think that criminal activities can be prevented if we replace physical cash with digital versions (either digital versions of fiat, or cryptocurrencies)? IMO, it will just have the opposite effect, as most of the crime syndicates have now found methods to launder cash using these digital payment methods. The real reason for this move is not to prevent money laundering and crime, but to spy on the citizens to find out from where their wealth is coming from, so that they could be taxed more efficiently.

[Shasha80]

I don't really know the real reason for the Malaysian government to limit cash transactions in 2020. I'm just guessing the possibility
it is to introduce to the public an alternative payment through digital currency, so the government wants the citizens follow the
development of technology in the financial sector. And the next reason might be to reduce illegal transaction activity, such as terrorists,
corruption, money laundering, and drug smuggling. What we know is that many illegal activities use cash. Malaysian government policies
related to cash transaction limits can make cryptocurrency a solution used by Malaysians citizen to make transactions.

[onrise]

Probably just first in a series of countries to do so.

Australia is trying to limit cash use as well, with more and more limits imposed on cash deposits and cash based transactions. This severely limits the utility of cash, which seems like a good thing on the surface, but really takes away some of the fungibility and reliability of the payment system.

This could be an area where BTC could fill in once again, re-creating the fungibility that cash once had.

I think the future belongs to the digital transaction and slowly the cash transaction would be reduced and this crypto currency would play a vital roles in doing so and thus this market will widen and the price will continue to rise in coming time .

[Betwrong]

I guess this is all for the control of the use of cash. You and I know that cash can be abused. In fact, it is already used by many criminals. Drug lords, terrorists, and other huge syndicates are mostly using cash. This is actually detrimental to the economy of the country in one way or another because by limiting the use of cash, the people will be limited in their spending and expenses. That affects the economy. This might really be another reason for the people in this country to use crypto instead.

WTF man? Do you want to make physical cash illegal just because a few criminals use it? And do you really think that criminal activities can be prevented if we replace physical cash with digital versions (either digital versions of fiat, or cryptocurrencies)? IMO, it will just have the opposite effect, as most of the crime syndicates have now found methods to launder cash using these digital payment methods. The real reason for this move is not to prevent money laundering and crime, but to spy on the citizens to find out from where their wealth is coming from, so that they could be taxed more efficiently.

Yes, but this is about not just citizens, but about very wealthy ones, those who can afford spending over $6,000 on goods or services at once. Maybe it would be not that bad if such people could be taxed more efficiently. But that's of course if the money from taxes wouldn't be stolen by corrupt government officials, which is frequently the case.

[veleten]

this is a weird decision if I ever seen one
I would understand limiting derivatives and electronic money but trying to limit cash sounds like a start of the Orwell's anti utopia
in a world without cash you can be simply turned off and won't be able to pay for anything
for example , the government thinks you are  a threat and you find your cards blocked , your accounts frozen
and you won't be able to buy food or pay for the bare necessities you need
I hope they do not go through with this ridiculous plan

[drachman]

I guess this is all for the control of the use of cash. You and I know that cash can be abused. In fact, it is already used by many criminals. Drug lords, terrorists, and other huge syndicates are mostly using cash. This is actually detrimental to the economy of the country in one way or another because by limiting the use of cash, the people will be limited in their spending and expenses. That affects the economy. This might really be another reason for the people in this country to use crypto instead.

WTF man? Do you want to make physical cash illegal just because a few criminals use it? And do you really think that criminal activities can be prevented if we replace physical cash with digital versions (either digital versions of fiat, or cryptocurrencies)? IMO, it will just have the opposite effect, as most of the crime syndicates have now found methods to launder cash using these digital payment methods. The real reason for this move is not to prevent money laundering and crime, but to spy on the citizens to find out from where their wealth is coming from, so that they could be taxed more efficiently.

Agreed, this is about monitoring the citizens and what they are doing with their money, governments and private institutions are getting more invasive with their monitoring and we should expect that this gets worse as the century advances and the only way to avoid a world in which everything you do is monitored is to begin to resist it, and adopting bitcoin is a great step since even if you are doing nothing wrong we should expect to retain some level of privacy about our purchases.

[fiulpro]

Even if the cash transactions are put on hold there are other ways by which people can simply speaking .. pay whatever they want and this way I think cryptocurrencies will come handy ...
Because I don't know how many people will be open for the payment in terms of other traditional methods , and I think the government will leave the bank cards open for transactions made after the cash limit have reached .
They are simply trying to reduce the black money in the market and it might work if implemented successfully with certain pre defined laws.

[ilovealtcoins]

It seems that they are trying to control cash flow, limiting cash transactions will make transactions more transparent.  This makes the anonymity of monetary transactions lost.  Cashless transactions will reduce costs such as printing costs, transportation costs and cash flow losses.
It seems that Indonesia is learning from China and other countries in the region about making cashless transactions.

[X-ray]

Probably just first in a series of countries to do so.

Australia is trying to limit cash use as well, with more and more limits imposed on cash deposits and cash based transactions. This severely limits the utility of cash, which seems like a good thing on the surface, but really takes away some of the fungibility and reliability of the payment system.

This could be an area where BTC could fill in once again, re-creating the fungibility that cash once had.

Guess these paper wallet aren't deemed to be worth it anymore. If it's for the sake of forcing people into using digital curreny or payment method I actually fine with that and also could actually reduce the logging but it seems people aren't really ready for it though and are worried with the fact that the government could take down the account of certain person and possibly deducting money directly from their digital account.

[coin-investor]

This is really weird and unimaginable I'm glad that they are not thinking of doing this here in our country, this is the first time I read that, what could be the consequences of this, but it's punishing the people because if one family will be building a house and yet you cannot transact with cash how they are going to complete that, or they want to promote the use of cards, I don't know where will this lead and how will their people cope with this.

[abhiseshakana]

This is really weird and unimaginable I'm glad that they are not thinking of doing this here in our country, this is the first time I read that, what could be the consequences of this, but it's punishing the people because if one family will be building a house and yet you cannot transact with cash how they are going to complete that, or they want to promote the use of cards, I don't know where will this lead and how will their people cope with this.

There is nothing strange in this regulation because, in reality, there are currently many countries implementing policies to limit payment transactions in cash. Changes in community lifestyle trends that are increasingly mobile, practical, and globalized, can no longer be avoided. Anyone must follow the trend to survive.

The pattern of transaction habits has shifted from cash to non-cash. Arrangement of restrictions on the use of currency transactions encourages and educates the public to optimize the use of banking services and other financial service providers. Transaction restrictions also support the concept of bank channels in several developing countries, one of which is to align themselves with developed countries.

[bitvestorhacked]

I have been following this news for months now, the truth is we will only find out more next year, this sanction was actually placed this year somewhere around March but the only people affected was just the minimum wage earners, big time businessmen was not affected but again we will see next year how much they push it, for crypto adaptation in Malaysia, it is already becoming a big deal, there are new people joining the crypto family from Malaysia but the second issue is that many of them have no experience and jumping in with two feet and i think that might be a problem because lots of them might fall to crypto scams and this will also cause negative effect in the community, i would advise more awareness be created for new crypto users in Malaysia for more understanding.

[adzino]

I have been following this news for months now, the truth is we will only find out more next year, this sanction was actually placed this year somewhere around March but the only people affected was just the minimum wage earners, big time businessmen was not affected but again we will see next year how much they push it, for crypto adaptation in Malaysia, it is already becoming a big deal, there are new people joining the crypto family from Malaysia but the second issue is that many of them have no experience and jumping in with two feet and i think that might be a problem because lots of them might fall to crypto scams and this will also cause negative effect in the community, i would advise more awareness be created for new crypto users in Malaysia for more understanding.

I think you are saying the exact opposite. How come people earning minimum wage be affected by this monetary policy and not those that are big businessmen or deals with large sum of money daily? The poor won't even reach the limit while those rich people will be affected by it within a day. Though I am not quite sure how this policy is being imposed and how this going to help reduce "abuse" (again what kind of abuse?) of money. Another guy over here said that this limit applies to only physical cash transaction and electronic transaction has no limit. Like how would they be tracing each and every physical transaction? They would be almost impossible.

[drachman]

This is really weird and unimaginable I'm glad that they are not thinking of doing this here in our country, this is the first time I read that, what could be the consequences of this, but it's punishing the people because if one family will be building a house and yet you cannot transact with cash how they are going to complete that, or they want to promote the use of cards, I don't know where will this lead and how will their people cope with this.

This is without a doubt an obvious attempt to try to restrict what you do with your money, as long as you obtained your money in a legal way a government should have no reason to stop whatever you are doing and yet that is not what we see, governments want to regulate everything that you do with your life and one of the easiest ways in which they can achieve this goal is by regulating everything that you do with your money and one very obvious step is to limit what you can do with your cash.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I have been following this news for months now, the truth is we will only find out more next year, this sanction was actually placed this year somewhere around March but the only people affected was just the minimum wage earners, big time businessmen was not affected but again we will see next year how much they push it, for crypto adaptation in Malaysia, it is already becoming a big deal, there are new people joining the crypto family from Malaysia but the second issue is that many of them have no experience and jumping in with two feet and i think that might be a problem because lots of them might fall to crypto scams and this will also cause negative effect in the community, i would advise more awareness be created for new crypto users in Malaysia for more understanding.

I don't think that this will be successful. A lot many countries have tried to limit the circulation of physical cash, and none of them become successful in doing it. Even here in India, the government has been trying the same since 2014, but still there are no concrete results. Most of the transactions are being done in physical cash. And now I guess they have stopped encouraging digital payments as well.

[bitvestorhacked]

Electronic transaction is already limited to 3k to 30k  for Maybank and 3k to 30 for CIMB  but believe me some people do have up to 50k for Hong Leong some 100k and above, but then the minimum wage earners don't get the option to increase their limits and if this sanctions falls through, those having high electronic transfer figures won't be affected the news will say they are but they wont be. Cash transfers will go on as usual and new players will suffer this development and those that have not had high volume transfers. So the fact they cannot manage and trace every transfers they will just limit the new ones and regular people, or as they are doing now closing down bank accounts, over 20,000 bank account has been shut down in Malaysia this year, this is them trying to avoid all this messy tracing and limits on transaction, you talk about physical cash having limits,

Like how would they be tracing each and every physical transaction? They would be almost impossible.

who has physical cash this days to amount to the limits, after business hours  daily some deposit to the bank daily via deposit machine while others walk in with wade of cash the next day if big companies, banks wont reject making the deposit when you are sitting in the bank holding a company account and a receipt from sales.

I personally believe the policy wont hold but the regular will suffer it, because they will be the target when an unusual transfers starts taking place, so this will only apply for electronic transfer and never cash, you can't trace cash that is not in the system

I have been following this news for months now, the truth is we will only find out more next year, this sanction was actually placed this year somewhere around March but the only people affected was just the minimum wage earners, big time businessmen was not affected but again we will see next year how much they push it, for crypto adaptation in Malaysia, it is already becoming a big deal, there are new people joining the crypto family from Malaysia but the second issue is that many of them have no experience and jumping in with two feet and i think that might be a problem because lots of them might fall to crypto scams and this will also cause negative effect in the community, i would advise more awareness be created for new crypto users in Malaysia for more understanding.

I think you are saying the exact opposite. How come people earning minimum wage be affected by this monetary policy and not those that are big businessmen or deals with large sum of money daily? The poor won't even reach the limit while those rich people will be affected by it within a day. Though I am not quite sure how this policy is being imposed and how this going to help reduce "abuse" (again what kind of abuse?) of money. Another guy over here said that this limit applies to only physical cash transaction and electronic transaction has no limit. Like how would they be tracing each and every physical transaction? They would be almost impossible.

[davinchi]

The restriction on cash transaction might not affect those that live the average life I guess? Just saying because they spend around 8,000 Ringgits, but businesses will never agree with the restrictions that have been put in place. I believe there are businesses that are transacting way more than that amount (25,000) every month, and those are the big businesses in the country.

The reason for the restriction is to combat financial crimes, but in everything there is always the downsides, and there will always be people that will not agree with it.

I personally believe the policy wont hold but the regular will suffer it, because they will be the target when an unusual transfers starts taking place, so this will only apply for electronic transfer and never cash, you can't trace cash that is not in the system

I believe these types of restrictions will lead people to adopt cryptos in the end. Not just Malaysia, I heard India is also putting lots of restrictions and they are too rigorous on cryptos too but I do see my friends from India are slowly adopting bitcoins for their all needs. Simply, I welcome Malaysia's this move as it will help their citizen to adopt in one or another way.

[drachman]

I personally believe the policy wont hold but the regular will suffer it, because they will be the target when an unusual transfers starts taking place, so this will only apply for electronic transfer and never cash, you can't trace cash that is not in the system

I believe these types of restrictions will lead people to adopt cryptos in the end. Not just Malaysia, I heard India is also putting lots of restrictions and they are too rigorous on cryptos too but I do see my friends from India are slowly adopting bitcoins for their all needs. Simply, I welcome Malaysia's this move as it will help their citizen to adopt in one or another way.

This is what I think as well, governments believe that they can order their citizens to do whatever they want and that they are going to obey, and for the most part this is correct right now, but at the end people are always going to want to have as much freedom as possible and eventually they are going to realize that what is happening is a serious threat to their privacy and to their freedom and they will eventually take the necessary steps to regain that freedom and the best way to do that is with cryptocurrencies.

[Pinkris128]

Restricting and limiting cash transaction would a great idea from country like malaysia because there is a huge chance that more people would start to adopt bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but on the other hand it might not be successful because there will still people who does not want online transations and digital currency like bitcoin that they still have trust issues about buying bitcoin and using it.

[slashz9]

if  they say it like that, it's a bit confusing where the action is not only detrimental to the businessman but the bank and government also, it can't be said that all activities carried out can be monitored, but if bitcoin or crypto comes in, will illegal actions be reduced?
certainly not because of the use of bitcoin using a decentralized system.
I do support bitcoin and crypto but this statement is a bit strange.

[deadthings]

There are many other countries that are doing the same. The prime reason is that the government wants your money to move through banks only, so that the government can be able to collect tax in a better manner and control things like money laundering, illegtimate cash payments between drug dealers etc.

[Argoo]

Indeed, such measures are a little strange. The government issues its paper money in order to then limit its circulation. In these measures, there is logic only if transactions are carried out for large amounts and in this case it is simply practical to do this by non-cash payment. Also, such transactions can be easily controlled and ensure the receipt of taxes. However, for small transactions, no matter how many there are, in my opinion, it is not entirely correct. Cash turnover provides economic growth. However, the world is now moving towards an increase in cashless payments. Therefore, let this government experiment. Let's see what happens.

[Rasa nanas]

in my opinion this problem has nothing to do with bitcoin and will not have any effect on bitcoin. the Malaysian government only wants the Malaysian public to do more online cash transactions to make it easier for the government to conduct surveillance. I understand the direction of this news but I still say if this news does not have a relationship with bitcoin.

[btcmurat]

Malaysia is striving for a new economic model. The world will move to a new system. I think the developing countries will disappear. The world will experience a 2-tier division. Developed countries are undeveloped countries. When cash transactions are limited, control will increase and it will be easier to spend money. Because the target is the spread of online shopping.

[Assface16678]

Malaysia is striving for a new economic model. The world will move to a new system. I think the developing countries will disappear. The world will experience a 2-tier division. Developed countries are undeveloped countries. When cash transactions are limited, control will increase and it will be easier to spend money. Because the target is the spread of online shopping.

As one of the biggest country that improving today is Malaysia, they have now the number transaction that increases their GDP, and as their improvement for their country, they also adopt the use of bitcoin or cryptocurrency to attract more foreign transaction without any hesitation. The government of Malaysia in this year accepts the bitcoin trading and mining on their country, and they are not restricted this kind of action because they know this is part of improvement in blockchain and also to their country, if they continuing this it becomes they grow as the largest country too, but the security of each transaction will be more strictly. Before they are not limiting the transaction for each people because of the too large amount of money coming from an account. To handle each transaction, where is the money came from to make sure its authenticity.

[imstillthebest]

in my opinion this problem has nothing to do with bitcoin and will not have any effect on bitcoin. the Malaysian government only wants the Malaysian public to do more online cash transactions to make it easier for the government to conduct surveillance. I understand the direction of this news but I still say if this news does not have a relationship with bitcoin.

that will be more hard for them to track transactions if it done online   . you said they will be using cash for online transaction ? how come when they want to limit cash transaction ? they should have use other payments methods like cryptos  such as btc  which they will be .
so you still think that this wont have afect on btc  ? it does affect btc but mostly in a positive manner  .  malaysia is one of the country that are now doing steps to transform the way people transact   . that is cool   .

[drachman]

Restricting and limiting cash transaction would a great idea from country like malaysia because there is a huge chance that more people would start to adopt bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, but on the other hand it might not be successful because there will still people who does not want online transations and digital currency like bitcoin that they still have trust issues about buying bitcoin and using it.

When you look at things from that perspective then this could be good for bitcoin because if people get mad about the restrictions that are being put over their shoulders they may begin to use cryptocurrencies that are not controlled by the governments to use their money as they want, but I do not know how popular bitcoin is in a country like Malaysia, it is possible that we do not really see any change in the adoption of bitcoin in that country, but if those policies begin to be applied all over the world that could make a great difference to increase the level of adoption of bitcoin around the world.

[Sithara007]

No matter how hard they try, it is not possible to eradicate physical cash. Even here in India, more than 80% of the transactions are still being done using physical cash, despite the push from the government towards online methods. Here it is even illegal for anyone to hold more than INR 200,000 ($3,000) in cash. But that hasn't stopped the cash transactions, as people don't want any sort of surveillance from the tax authorities.

[Maheshkumar_Hrangkhawl]

Fiat cash in physical form has existed for many centuries, while the digital version is only a few decades old. There are a lot of people who are not comfortable with the digital payment methods. So banning physical cash is not something that I would support. In my hometown, I have seen people getting scammed with many of these methods.

[bobitza]

If Malaysia restricts cash transactions by 2020, I think it will be difficult for this country. How will people here pay for daily services? Not everything transfers or payments are made with digital money. All daily dining, shopping, shopping ... cash payment is quick and convenient. Not all Malaysians are wealthy and can pay by credit card. And what do you think about this issue?

[killerfrost]

If Malaysia restricts cash transactions by 2020, I think it will be difficult for this country. How will people here pay for daily services? Not everything transfers or payments are made with digital money. All daily dining, shopping, shopping ... cash payment is quick and convenient. Not all Malaysians are wealthy and can pay by credit card. And what do you think about this issue?

Malaysia is very developed, they have very high GDP and are in the top of Asia. So I don't think it will be too much if they don't use cash. I have traveled to Malaysia and here is really a developed country, in addition to this country also supports cryptocurrency, lots of good projects are created from this country. I am not too surprised if in 2020 or 2021 they will use cryptocurrency in their lives

[target]

If Malaysia restricts cash transactions by 2020, I think it will be difficult for this country. How will people here pay for daily services? Not everything transfers or payments are made with digital money. All daily dining, shopping, shopping ... cash payment is quick and convenient. Not all Malaysians are wealthy and can pay by credit card. And what do you think about this issue?

Malaysia is very developed, they have very high GDP and are in the top of Asia. So I don't think it will be too much if they don't use cash. I have traveled to Malaysia and here is really a developed country, in addition to this country also supports cryptocurrency, lots of good projects are created from this country. I am not too surprised if in 2020 or 2021 they will use cryptocurrency in their lives

They will probably not support crypto anytime soon, this is probably the reason why they are not limiting the amount of money to be withdrawn by the people. They only reasoned its because of the physical cash used for illicit activities according to Bank Negara Malaysia deputy governor but the real reason could be because they are preventing people from buying crypto.

[johnwest]

I think its a great time for digital payments applications and companies. I dont know how Malasian government stands towards crypto but if there is someone who can implement a simple transnational exchange with the support of national bank then it will be a big boom for crypto community. 

[Chrystora123]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

[abhiseshakana]

Malaysia is very developed, they have very high GDP and are in the top of Asia. So I don't think it will be too much if they don't use cash. I have traveled to Malaysia and here is really a developed country, in addition to this country also supports cryptocurrency, lots of good projects are created from this country. I am not too surprised if in 2020 or 2021 they will use cryptocurrency in their lives

Malaysian GDP is lower than Indonesia and Thailand, while Malaysia's GDP per capita is lower than Singapore and Brunei. Just like the majority of other countries, the Malaysian Government does not prohibit cryptocurrency trading but prohibits cryptocurrency as a legal payment tool.
(Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ASEAN_countries_by_GDP)

Indeed, the use of cryptocurrency is in line with the cashless society program, but the Malaysian government is still not serious in responding to the issue of the issuance of the Malaysian crypto "coin hope". The concentration of the Malaysian government regarding the use of cryptocurrency is aimed at reducing the use of cash transactions that are prone to corruption because Malaysia believes that when cash is not used, corruption can be limited.

[BChydro]

If Malaysia restricts cash transactions by 2020, I think it will be difficult for this country. How will people here pay for daily services? Not everything transfers or payments are made with digital money. All daily dining, shopping, shopping ... cash payment is quick and convenient. Not all Malaysians are wealthy and can pay by credit card. And what do you think about this issue?

I understand that the government is enforcing people to send big amounts digitally and i guess the restrictions will not affect the poor members of the society as they are not going to pay with hard cash and i hope they will accept debit card and you do not need the credit card to transact, i am asking a genuine doubt and no offense to anyone .

[drachman]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

Just because something is new doesn't necessarily mean that it is better, cash is a very old concept and that should prove how good it is, governments are without a doubt trying to get people to move to digital transactions and that is because they can monitor their citizens in a very effective way and that is precisely why cash is still necessary in this day and age where privacy is almost nonexistent because most people are not ready to adopt cryptocurrencies yet.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

There are people out there who are unable to make online payments. What's your take on them? Making online payments need a smartphone and an internet connection. As far as I know, the government is not giving away these for free. Also, if they make such payment methods mandatory, then they need to give training to people (especially the elderly) on how to use them. And this is one of the reasons why China went back on enforcing digital payments recently.

[bohr]

If Malaysia restricts cash transactions by 2020, I think it will be difficult for this country. How will people here pay for daily services? Not everything transfers or payments are made with digital money. All daily dining, shopping, shopping ... cash payment is quick and convenient. Not all Malaysians are wealthy and can pay by credit card. And what do you think about this issue?

It is obvious what it is happening, when a government feels secure in their economic position they let their citizens enjoy the most freedom but when they feel their position is threatened they begin to pass all kind of policies to protect themselves and restricts the freedoms of their citizens, and since this is happening all over the world this is a sign that things are not right in the economic system and you should have some bitcoin saved in the case something goes wrong.

[ene1980]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

You are talking without understanding the bigger obstacles we will face in the future, lets say that you are in a dictatorship regime and if you want to revolt against them then the only possible situation you got is to say good bye to your digital funds as they will be freezing your account for good, it is a double edge sword and you need to understand all the implication it will cause when you are supporting a cause.

[mamahdedeh]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

There are people out there who are unable to make online payments. What's your take on them? Making online payments need a smartphone and an internet connection. As far as I know, the government is not giving away these for free. Also, if they make such payment methods mandatory, then they need to give training to people (especially the elderly) on how to use them. And this is one of the reasons why China went back on enforcing digital payments recently.

I don't think it's a technology problem to be a problem for online payment. if the rules are enforced I think people will follow them and in the next generation of course online payments are familiar in all communities. indeed this cannot be done instantly, but it must begin

[Bezobraznike]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

There are people out there who are unable to make online payments. What's your take on them? Making online payments need a smartphone and an internet connection. As far as I know, the government is not giving away these for free. Also, if they make such payment methods mandatory, then they need to give training to people (especially the elderly) on how to use them. And this is one of the reasons why China went back on enforcing digital payments recently.

   People who are unable to make online payments will have to adapt, they will find someone to do that for them or they will learn
how to do it. Percent of people who are unable to make online payments is decreasing everyday! Old people who don't like technology
are dying and new generations will replace them all, even us in the end.
    I am reading about Malaysia with enthusiasm, one more country that plan to limit cash transactions. This is the beginning of the end
for cash money!

[AjithBtc]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

There are people out there who are unable to make online payments. What's your take on them? Making online payments need a smartphone and an internet connection. As far as I know, the government is not giving away these for free. Also, if they make such payment methods mandatory, then they need to give training to people (especially the elderly) on how to use them. And this is one of the reasons why China went back on enforcing digital payments recently.

I don't think it's a technology problem to be a problem for online payment. if the rules are enforced I think people will follow them and in the next generation of course online payments are familiar in all communities. indeed this cannot be done instantly, but it must begin

Already several countries have initiated this plan, but on the execution it won't be that effective. Malaysia being technology wise developed and have got low population than many other countries seems to make the changes happen in an effective manner without much complications. Already countries like India have taken initiative with the term digital India, but the activities aren't supportive for the same. The term digital is used to bribe the people with ease.

[abhiseshakana]

It is obvious what it is happening, when a government feels secure in their economic position they let their citizens enjoy the most freedom but when they feel their position is threatened they begin to pass all kind of policies to protect themselves and restricts the freedoms of their citizens,

Come on brother, why do you have such thoughts. Basically, all regulations made by the government aim to secure the nation and state, there are no regulations aimed at weakening the state and its people. Even though some elements in the government act improperly, it does not mean that the government does not maintain and protect the security and welfare of its people. This is precisely the task of citizens to assist the government in upholding justice and supporting every step of the government.

and since this is happening all over the world this is a sign that things are not right in the economic system

Why is it sporadic in the whole world, because the threats faced by all countries are almost the same, ranging from terrorism, corruption, collusion, nepotism, drugs, and human trafficking.

In addition, I see that this is not just the government's fault, some countries, especially those who do not exercise their right to vote or do not elect properly their people's representatives, so that the elected people's representatives cannot represent their interests.

and you should have some bitcoin saved in the case something goes wrong.

Ready umbrella before it rains is a smart action, but I suggest the existence of derivation of investment, bitcoin is the first choice in current conditions, but there is no harm in storing precious metals.

[Brunus]

It is not the first country at all, almost everywhere there is a limit to the use of cash, which in some countries is ridiculously low (to say, in Ecuador a 100 dollar bill can only be changed in the bank).
In Italy, from this year the MONTHLY cash limit will be 2000 euros per person.
So, trouble everywhere.

[jameshugo17]

With cash transactions it may be easier to evade taxes. If the whole trade takes place digitally, everything will be recorded. But here's the problem. Injustice in income distribution. We see the most vivid examples of this in the Middle East.

[bohr]

It is obvious what it is happening, when a government feels secure in their economic position they let their citizens enjoy the most freedom but when they feel their position is threatened they begin to pass all kind of policies to protect themselves and restricts the freedoms of their citizens,

Come on brother, why do you have such thoughts. Basically, all regulations made by the government aim to secure the nation and state, there are no regulations aimed at weakening the state and its people. Even though some elements in the government act improperly, it does not mean that the government does not maintain and protect the security and welfare of its people. This is precisely the task of citizens to assist the government in upholding justice and supporting every step of the government.

I have no problems with those that disagree with me after all we are all entitled to our own opinion, but to me that is just an excuse, if they want to go against the bad guys that are using cash in an illegal way then they should do that, however what we see is that they create laws that apply to the whole population when most people are honest about what they're doing with their money, so when I see a law like that and the supposed benefits that it will bring I simply do not buy it, they are just hiding what they really want to do with the excuse of protecting the population.

[Argoo]

Personally, I strongly support Malaysia's plan, cash transactions really need to be reduced to make efficiency in transactions.  cash is an old concept, I have started using online transactions in various important activities such as buying daily necessities, buying gasoline and paying bills, in addition to greatly facilitating me, I can also monitor how much I spend money every month.

I do not support such measures by the Government of Malaysia. No need to set limits on the use of cash. It would be more reasonable to introduce a rule to make large purchases and transactions by bank transfer, however small household purchases cannot be limited in the use of cash. This is clearly not a fight against abuses in the use of cash. Either the Malaysian government has other goals, or such steps are unreasonable.