I don't think this is the case. IRB has no right to freeze the bank account of the entity because they want to check or tax the payers...that is year 2017 and if that happens, we have time to file our tax fillings for all transactions... I am waiting the Kimberyfromluno to answer if they did not comply with the tax statutory requirements until IRB exercised their power their their right to freeze the bank account.

It is quite safe to assume Luno has not been complying with tax requirements in Malaysia for quite some time. Hence this matter has escalated to this level. IRB has a responsibility to conduct due diligence. If you run a company, don't tell me your auditors don't have the right to probe into your customer invoices?

Even if you think Luno is lying, there is definitely something outside Luno's control because Coinhako also stopped Malaysian deposits..

It's a worldwide government and bank crackdown on cryptoexchanges.
AMLA + taxation opportunities. South Korea seems to be taking KYC a step further by making it mandatory for exchange account details to match bank account details.

At least our Gov is not banning exchanges outright.

nah, im not blaming LUNO. I'm just confused of what should i do. Transfer it out or leave it at LUNO.
Those scam rumors is just heard from others. So i'm just seeking opinions from you guys : shall we transfer out or stick back to LUNO, and why.

I don't think Luno is lying. They probably made a poor tax decision. Coinhako is from Singapore, potentially to avoid similar situation. My company will be operating our exchange in the coming weeks and we have sought proper consultation regarding this matter. Problem lies when many exchanges are exploiting tax loopholes and betting that authorities close an eye on this matter.

Nice. Don't suppose you can share more details?

I don't think it's just a company-level tax decision because even Remitano has just made KYC mandatory for all Malaysian p2p trades. They don't have a bank account for customers to deposit, so why the new KYC policy? Because the IRB wants to know who's buying crypto even for p2p trades.

This post has been edited by Andrew Lim: Jan 24 2018, 03:14 PM

KYC has become a mandatory requirement for exchange-operators in Malaysia which is not a new precedent btw. For further information, you can Google BNM Cryptocurrency exchange Exposure Draft. While the guidelines haven't set in stone yet, most exchanges have started to enhance KYC requirements.

We're from SINEGY. In a couple of days I will post a link to our updated site. We are from Malaysia, we build trading solutions related to crypto. Our exchange will be rough around the edges in terms of interface. It will be preliminary to serve the local market for now. Pairing will be MYR to BTC, ETH and possibly Ripple. We're aiming to go live by end of Jan/early Feb.

Min. deposit will be MYR5,000 as a barrier of entry to prevent influx of small scaled traders which will congest our clearance team for now.

thats from the Coinhacko site. can someone confirm if they have withdrawn MYR? Because if that is the case, and coinhacko and Luno have the same issue, then Luno is up to no good by blocking MYR withdrawals. Come on Kimberly, give us some transparency and TRUTH.

Please verify your news to ensure its the latest. This was pulled from CoinHako's latest blog update dated Jan 11 2018. Also, CoinHako suspends its operations and MYR withdrawal, different scenario from Luno whereby their account was frozen.

"Temporary Suspension of New User Registration

As we are upgrading our platform and services, we will be stopping all New User Registrations. New users – for both Singaporeans and Malaysians – will not be able to sign-up with Coinhako after 11th January 2018 until further notice.

If you had opened an account before 11th January 2018 or before the stoppage on this day, do not worry. We will be looking to clear our backlog of verification requests during this stoppage and will process your verification details as soon as possible."

The draft is pretty new, came out around a month ago. Which is around when the Luno accounts were frozen.
As mentioned in their status update, they are trying to protect customers by not giving up all their KYC information to the IRB.
Which is a good thing if you're a supporter of personal privacy. Not so good if you're the taxman.

This post has been edited by Andrew Lim: Jan 24 2018, 09:39 PM

Did anyone call to IRB to confirm that IRB has freeze Luno bank account? When IRB will unfreeze Luno bank account? Thank you.

The Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) investigation into London based cryptocurrency exchanger Luno is not a phishing exercise for information on cryptocurrency traders, says its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Sabin Samitah.

Responding to a query on why the Luno bank account in Malaysia was frozen by IRB, he said the audit was to determine whether the cryptocurrency company has complied with the statutory requirement under the Income Tax Act 1967 and to ascertain if the business is involved in money laundering activities.

He said though the cryptocurrency business was an unregulated industry in Malaysia, it was subject to Malaysian income tax by virtue of the Section 3 of the Act, whereby tax shall be charged upon the income of any person accruing in or derived from Malaysia.

“The IRB is adopting the standard investigation procedure in dealing with cryptocurrency traders by inspecting their source documents and accounting records,” he said, in an e-mail reply to The Star on Friday.


image: https://bcp.crwdcntrl.net/5/c=5593/b=49346210


Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2...eaehgYp2CWZw.99

Hi Andrew, do you know any platform that I could transfer my BTC to and also can convert to RM and transfer back to my Malaysia bank account? Thank you.

Steven, you can look at Remitano or LocalBitcoins.

As weichi mentioned, directly trading on p2p platforms are probably your most easiest options right now.
Not as convenient as directly selling to an exchange I know though...

Thanks Weichi & Andrew Lim

Cool, thanks!