Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad invests in a licensed crypto exchange

Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad, a leading financial company in Malaysia, has dipped its toes into crypto through a new investment. The bank unveiled this news through a news release on February 8, noting that it made this investment through its fully-owned private equity arm dubbed Kenanga Private Equity Sdn Bhd. Reportedly, this deal saw the bank enter into a conditional agreement with Tokenize Technology (Tokenize Malaysia), the operator of Tokenize Xchange.

According to the press release, Kenanga’s investment involved the purchase of a 19% equity interest in Tokenize Xchange, which is one of the three digital asset exchanges (DAX) that obtained a Recognized Market Operator (RMO) license from the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC). At the moment, the exchange is the second-largest in the country in terms of traded market share. The exchange operates 24/7 and deals with multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Since its launch in April last year, the exchange has attracted 100,000 users. .

Commenting on this development, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad’s Group Managing Director, Datuk Chay Wai Leong, said the institution has been developing a digital ecosystem to offer its clients a wide range of financial services, including digital assets. He added that while the bank deems crypto an asset class, it is well aware of associated risks such as volatility and the prevalence of unregulated players in the market. As such, investing in Tokenize Xchange is a unique opportunity, seeing as the exchange is regulated. Leong went on to tout SC for being the first Asian authority to introduce crypto regulations.

A pro-blockchain outlook

Per Leong, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad believes that the emergence of digital assets in the future is inevitable. However, the bank’s interest in virtual currencies surpasses BTC among other leading cryptocurrencies. Reportedly, the institution believes that the blockchain technology, which backs crypto, is very powerful. 

This news comes after Tokenize Xchange announced the launch of its Tokenize Mobile App on the Google Play Store. In so doing, the exchange offered its 100,000 users easy, fast access to the crypto market, which is now worth £0.945 trillion.