The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has granted Approval-in-Principle (ALP) to be register Hata as a Recognized Market Operator (Digital Asset Exchange & Digital Broker)

Being the only player that has received the Approval-in-Principle following SC’s re-opening of digital asset exchange (DAX) application in November 2022, Hata will become the 5th regulated DAX, allowing Malaysians to buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies safely with a local platform.

Hata has also obtained the approval-in-principle to operate as a Digital Broker (DB), which allows Hata to seek liquidity from other regulated exchanges. Notably, Hata is the first player to have received the DB approval from the SC.

Hata founded in Malaysia, is led by David Low, former APAC General Manager of Luno. David, who left Luno in April 2023, was a pioneer in Malaysia’s digital asset space. David led Luno’s DAX application and launched it as Malaysia’s first DAX in November 2019.

David Low, CEO of Hata expressed that the company is excited to have successfully obtained the conditional approvals and will be working towards obtaining full approvals from the SC before it opens its platform to customers in Malaysia by early-2024. David is also joined by two other co-founders, Darien Ng (CEO) & Chong Kwai Kun (Chief Technology Officer). Both Darien & Chong have deep expertise in blockchain technology & software development in Malaysia since 2018.

Low shared, “SC’s decision to further expand the recognised market operator (RMO) framework to incorporate the Digital Broker business model and grant us a conditional approval to operate both DAX & DB model, represents a vote of confidence in the digital asset industry. This is a significant milestone for me and my team at Hata after months of extensive efforts. Hata wants to enable safe and effortless cryptocurrency access and we look forward to being a one-stop and reliable platform for our customers with our suite of products and services. With the goal of challenging the existing norms, we plan to make digital asset investing easier to both institutional investors, businesses and high-net-worth individuals in Malaysia and we look forward to launching our platform soon”.

Hata has also recently obtained a Money Broker licence from the Labuan Financial Services Authority.

“It’s been a challenging past year not just for the market but also for investors. As an investor myself, the impact of bad actors was definitely felt first-hand; and events in the past year have also gone to show how important it is for businesses to be fully responsible when it comes to dealing with people’s monies. With this in mind, the team at Hata commits fully to operate as a reliable platform that’s compliant and safe, and we look forward to working together with market participants and the SC to uphold the integrity and quality of the regulatory environment in Malaysia.”