- Since the Bitcoin price crash in February, the news about Bitcoin owners have been quiet.
- Despite international trends, many Malaysians are still holding to their coins.
- Rather than bandwagon jumping, many of these Malaysians actually believe in cryptocurrency and its future.
In many ways, this has already been a pretty rollercoaster year for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
In January, Bitcoin was still riding the high of its introduction to the mass market, and while its value had fallen somewhat in December, there was a small incline in January.
Then the February crash happened, and all of the high praise for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency faded out from the public consciousness. More people cashed out to prevent further losses, and the cryptocurrency is still slowly recovering from the slump.
There was also news about cryptos being stolen from exchanges which didn’t help the preception of decentralised currency.
There were many who still chose to HODL (Hold On For Dear Life) onto their coins in December and January, but according to this article by Bloomberg, Reddit users very dramatically stopped using the term HODL in February.
It’s just a word, but there is an implication that those who once stood for cryptocurrencies are beginning to cut their losses.
Does this same mindset reflect in Malaysia?
Interestingly, we discovered that there are quite a few cryptocurrency believers in Malaysia who would rather HODL than sell. In fact, almost all of our respondents HODLed.
Bing Han is the tech lead of GRVTY Media. He owns not only BTC, but also ETH, LTC, HAV (Havven) and GNT (Golem). And he too, is part of the HODL gang.
“I’m HODLing on the coins as the prices have not reached my target selling price,” said Bing Han.
“I’m not a frequent or experienced trader, so that’s why I choose not to trade in order to minimise losses during the price crash. My strategy is to hold for long-term. I believe that those cryptocurrencies I ‘invested’ in have their value and future.”
He would only consider selling his cryptocurrency if he starts doing crypto trading full-time.
Meanwhile another Malaysian we spoke to, Alwin, mostly owns Ethereum, and he’s part of the HODL gang too.
“As tempting as it is to cash in when it was high up, I believe in the long-term application and usage of Ether,” he said.
“In my opinion, it has more benefits than being high in price. Cryptos tend to fluctuate a lot, which makes them highly unstable and volatile. Quite often these fluctuations are caused by people and/or events that do not have the best long-term interest of cryptos—people who are in it to make a quick buck.”
“With the price being low BUT more importantly more stable now than it was couple of months back, it allows the chaff to be separated from the wheat, and hopefully allow the currency to mature in a more sustainable way.”
“Stability in pricing allows for more practical applications too, and it is only then that it can achieve wider adoption. Eventually on the merit of application and practicality driving wider acceptance, and not because of speculators investing, that the price will go back up.”
We also asked if any situation would change his mind.
“As long as the current adopters continue to believe in the technology and put effort into growing the technology with aim of solving real-world problems, and this group of people continues to grow, I will continue to believe in it,” said Alwin.
Tan Aik Keong runs an exchange, and also own cryptocurrency, BTC, ETH, Ripple, EOS, Cardano, NEO, Iota 2. And he too, is HODLing.
“I believe in the future of crypto, especially on smart contract-based coin, such as Ethereum and EOS. Not to mention, there will be more and more corporates that will ride on the blockchain technology to develop decentralised applications.”
Perhaps owing to his stake in an exchange as well, he states that nothing will change his mind on this stance.
Melvin* owns the usual BTC and ETH, but also quite a slew of relatively “unknown” cryptos like Dash, XMR, ADA, XVG, and XLM, among others.
He has been eyeing the cryptocurrency world for the past 7 years now, and only spent the previous two actively. Despite the crash in price and his relative seniority in the field, Melvin told us that, “It’s not even day one in cryptocurrency yet”.
Of the respondents, only Suraya Zainuddin from Ringgit Oh Ringgit admitted that she sold some off during the crash. She owns approximately 10 different types of cryptocurrency.
“I just needed money, that’s all. And to re-diversify,” said Suraya. And she would only stop doing cryptocurrencies once they stop being a store of value.
Perhaps those who quietly sold off their cryptocurrencies were less likely to speak to us, but it is interesting that many Malaysians that we reached out to not only believed in cryptocurrrencies, they believed in it beyond as just a way to make money. Rather, they are taking a stake in what they believe to be the future of money.
*Names have been changed upon request.
- If you want to find out what Bank Negara’s stance on Bitcoin is, you can read our previous article here. Or if you were thinking of buying your own Bitcoin in Malaysia, you can find out more here.
Feature Image Credit: Coinhako