Malaysia has emerged as one of the more open Islamic-finance markets for regulated cryptocurrency, with trading on licensed exchanges rising 23% to RM17.14 billion, or more than $4 billion, during 2025.
Summary
- Malaysia’s regulated digital asset exchanges recorded RM17.14 billion in 2025 trading value, up 23% annually.
- Ten digital asset operators held Malaysian regulatory status across exchanges, custodians and offering platforms mid-2026.
- Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Stellar appear on Malaysia’s official list of Shariah-compliant digital assets today.
- Bank Negara Malaysia is testing ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits through three initiatives this year.
- Fitch expects Islamic crypto offerings to develop gradually as Shariah views remain divided across jurisdictions.
Fitch Ratings said on Sept. 16 that Malaysia’s regulatory framework and national Shariah treatment have given digital assets a clearer route into its Islamic-finance market than in several other jurisdictions. The rating agency noted that the Securities Commission Malaysia had regulated 10 digital-asset businesses by the end of the first half of 2026.
The trading figure is independently supported by the Securities Commission Malaysia’s 2026 digital-asset market update. The regulator recorded RM17.14 billion in trading value across regulated digital asset exchanges in 2025, compared with RM13.93 billion a year earlier.
Fitch said the amount represented only around 2.5% of the value traded in Malaysia’s domestic equity market, leaving regulated cryptocurrency activity small compared with traditional securities trading.
Malaysia crypto market combines regulation with Shariah screening
Malaysia’s framework separates regulated digital-asset activity into exchanges, initial exchange offering platforms and digital-asset custodians.
The SC’s current official digital-asset register lists five Digital Asset Exchange operators: HATA Digital, Luno Malaysia, MX Global, SINEGY DAX and Kinetic DAX. Kapital DX and Pitch Platforms appear as IEO operators, while CoKeeps, Gambit Custody and Jada Platform are registered digital-asset custodians.
Fitch counted the same three categories when it reported 10 regulated digital-asset players at the end of the first half of 2026.
Malaysia’s Shariah framework sits alongside those licensing rules. The SC’s Shariah Advisory Council first considered the treatment of digital assets in 2020, resolving that regulated digital currencies can qualify as mal, or property, from a Shariah perspective. The council said investments and trading in qualifying digital assets on SC-registered exchanges are permissible when they meet its requirements.
Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Litecoin received Shariah-compliant status at the council’s July 2020 meeting. Bitcoin Cash followed in 2021, while later decisions covered assets including Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, Uniswap, Avalanche, Polkadot and Stellar.
The current SC list identifies Stellar as Shariah-compliant following a December 2024 council meeting. From March 30, 2026, regulated exchanges seeking to offer other digital currencies as Shariah-compliant must obtain endorsement from the council under revised Islamic capital-market rules.
Regulated exchange volume reached RM17.14 billion
The increase in regulated crypto trading continued a multi-year expansion documented by Malaysia’s securities regulator.
SC data show trading activity jumped from RM13.93 billion in 2024 to RM17.14 billion during 2025. Its 2025 annual report attributed the rise partly to institutional adoption through exchange-traded funds and clearer regulation in major markets. The number of investors participating in Malaysia’s regulated digital-asset market increased approximately 29% from 2024.
The regulator counted 23 digital assets listed on recognized exchanges at the end of 2025. It reported participation by traditional capital-market firms as well, including stockbrokers offering access to digital-asset futures and fund managers providing exposure through investment strategies.
In May 2026, the SC revised its Digital Asset Exchange rules. The new framework streamlined the process for licensed exchanges to introduce products while raising requirements covering client-asset protection, governance, financial resources, ownership and management standards.
Digital Asset Exchange operators are scheduled to become members of Malaysia’s Financial Markets Ombudsman Service during 2026, giving investors access to its formal dispute-resolution framework. The SC said it had taken administrative action against four unregistered exchanges and worked with technology companies including Google to restrict promotion by unauthorized operators.
Crypto.news reported that Bybit led an $8 million Series A investment in regulated Malaysian exchange Hata in April. Hata said it had processed RM1.04 billion in transaction volume during 2025 while operating under Malaysian regulatory approvals.
Bybit was removed from Malaysia’s Investor Alert List after engagement with local regulators. The removal did not turn Bybit itself into an SC-regulated Malaysian exchange; its local investment was made through Hata.
Malaysian banks remain cautious on direct crypto services
Fitch said bank participation in Malaysia’s cryptocurrency market remains largely confined to services provided to regulated operators.
Most Islamic banks examined by Fitch across major Islamic-finance markets have yet to generate material revenue from direct cryptocurrency trading, brokerage, custody or financing. The rating agency said deeper participation could generate fee income but could expose banks to operational, liquidity, compliance, reputational and Shariah-compliance risks.
Bank Negara Malaysia is pursuing a separate track focused on regulated digital money and tokenization.
In February, the central bank confirmed three initiatives involving ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits through its Digital Asset Innovation Hub. The projects cover wholesale domestic and cross-border payments, including settlement of tokenized assets. Some tests will examine Shariah considerations.
Bank Negara said it intends to provide more clarity on ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits by the end of 2026 after evaluating the tests. The Digital Asset Innovation Hub had engaged more than 30 domestic and international organizations from bank and non-bank sectors since its launch in June 2025.
Its asset-tokenization working group includes AmBank, CIMB, Hong Leong Bank, Kenanga Investment Bank, Maybank, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank, RHB Investment Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia as pioneer members. Bank Islam Malaysia and Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia appear among its observer institutions.
The central bank describes the program as experimentation involving tokenized money and blockchain-based financial services, not approval for unrestricted cryptocurrency trading by participating banks.
As crypto.news reported in February, Malaysia’s digital-asset tests include ringgit-linked stablecoins and tokenized deposits as regulators study domestic and cross-border settlement applications.
Fitch sees different Shariah approaches across markets
Fitch expects cryptocurrency products within Islamic finance to “continue developing gradually in some jurisdictions,” but it does not expect adoption to proceed uniformly.
The agency pointed to different religious interpretations and the absence of formal cryptocurrency guidance from the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions and the Islamic Financial Services Board. Fitch said the lack of common standards “limits harmonisation across jurisdictions.”
The UAE represents another active market in Fitch’s comparison. The rating agency said entities supervised by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority handled nearly $680 billion in transaction volume during 2025, while assets under management exceeded $2.5 billion. More than 55 virtual-asset service providers had been licensed by September 2026.
Fitch said the UAE’s Higher Shari’ah Authority deemed dealing in Bitcoin permissible in 2025. A small number of conventional and Islamic banks subsequently began providing cryptocurrency brokerage and custody services, giving banks there more direct participation than in many Islamic-finance markets.
Bahrain had nine crypto-asset service providers operating by September 2026, according to Fitch, while its central bank licensed the country’s first stablecoin issuer in June. Qatar has concentrated more heavily on digital-asset infrastructure and blockchain applications connected with asset-backed finance.
Saudi Arabia had not enacted legislation specifically governing cryptocurrencies at the time of Fitch’s report. Pakistan presented a different Shariah position after Darul Ifta at Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi issued a fatwa stating that cryptocurrencies do not constitute wealth under Shariah, according to Fitch.
Malaysia’s SC continues to regulate digital-asset issuance, trading and custody under its securities framework, while Bank Negara states that digital assets are not legal tender in Malaysia. The two regulators have maintained separate responsibilities for capital-market activity and payment or monetary matters.
