Yesterday the President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed into law the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) which makes it possible for private companies in the US to issue “stablecoins” of the US Dollar, which is a cryptocurrency.

This new law marks a significant shift in the financial system currently dominated by the US Federal Reserve and private banking entities, finally extending their reach and monitoring into the blockchain ecosystem, which is a public digital ledger, legally.

This move will be followed by other countries across the globe, and Malaysia will eventually have to follow suit.

What this gradual move towards full digitalization will mean for us is that, our spending habits, and where or what we decide to spend our cash on will be trackable by the government and the financial institutions.

If these intimately personal data were to fall into the wrong hands, especially if it involves political leaders, there are risks of blackmail, targeted sanctions or worse, we could see the repeat of what has happened to the martyred leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, if Malaysia were ever to be targeted next.

With that said, I would like to urge the Malaysian government to cautiously embrace digitalization, leave room for the use of paper ringgit, and avoid introducing such a risky act without first preparing proper regulations and full digital security measures to safeguard the sensitive data of all Malaysian citizens through encryption, anonymity and others.

JAUHARI JOHAR
19th July 2025