Malaysia’s bank to release Crypto-friendly app in 2023

Sahana Kiran
Bitcoin
Source – Unsplash

Crypto adoption has been rapid over the past few years. With several corporations undertaking some form of development to expand the userbase and general crypto access, Malaysia is now building a super app that integrates crypto trading.

According to a recent press release, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad, a prominent private investment bank in the region, has plans to develop an all-inclusive wealth application, considered a ‘super app’.

The bank has reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Ant Group. The ‘super app’ is expected to entail an array of things, including an e-wallet, stock & crypto trading, FX, and digital investment management. With this partnership, Kenanga will employ mPaaS, this is a mobile development network formulated from AliPay App.

It should be noted that Kenanga began its experimentation with crypto about five years ago. With the current demand for crypto, the bank’s latest move should boost the company’s revenue over a period of time.

Speaking about the same, Kenanga Group managing director Datuk Chay Wai Leong said,

“We look forward to not only unifying a broad spectrum of financial offerings under one roof but more importantly, to make wealth creation more accessible by democratizing financial services for the millions of Malaysians.”

Additionally, the private bank is also partnered with Japanese crypto-friendly retail firm Rakuten. The organization provides Malaysians with online stock trading services via its Rakuten Trade app, which is one of the country’s fastest-growing trading application.

According to a recent analysis by Finder.com, crypto adoption has surprisingly registered a decline in Malaysia over the past year. The report stated that interest in digital assets has dropped down to 15%, from a 20% in 2021. This includes internet users aged between 18 and above. A majority of the present investors were male with a 63% dominance.

Unsurprisingly, Bitcoin remains the most popular digital asset with 35% ownership, which is followed by Ethereum, which accounts for 24% of the investors. At press time, Bitcoin was valued at $21,680, whereas Ethereum was priced at just under $1700.