Malaysia’s Securities Commission joins the band of regulatory bodies cautioning people about the dangers of Initial Coin Offering schemes.
On Thursday, the regulatory authority that oversees and enforces financial regulation in Malaysia stated:
Investors should also fully understand the features of an ICO scheme, and carefully weigh the risks before parting with their monies. For example, investors should be aware that ICO scheme operators issue a whitepaper, which typically contains descriptions of the ICO scheme but may also carry disclaimers which absolve the operators from certain responsibilities and obligations.
Malaysia’s commentary on ICOs comes only days after China issued a ban on ICO, citing the dangers of fraud and money laundering associated with this type of trading.
As the ICOs gain popularity more and more regulatory bodies are feeling the need to voice caution on it. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was the first to release a statement saying that it would regulate tokens that qualify as securities under the Howey Test. Singapore, Canada, China, Hong Kong and now Malaysia are the others that have released statements about ICOs.
Read More at CoinDesk and Digital News Asia.