'Hope Coin': The Story of Malaysia's Crypto Political Fundraising Platform

The ongoing controversy surrounding Malaysia's proposed political cryptocurrency, Harapan Coin, is far from letting up.

The turbulence around the proposed asset, which is touted by its creators as "The world's first political fundraising platform," has been heightening throughout the last few weeks, as many of Malaysia's prominent political actors voiced their doubts and concerns with regard to the project.

The identities of the people working on Harapan Coin have been concealed all along, citing "The Draconian laws of limiting and non-respecting [sic] individual rights to freedom of expression of the current BN government," the website contains only their first names, blurred pictures and locations in countries outside Malaysia.

The project's website offers a mix of inspirational language, suggesting its role in advancing a much-needed political change - "a beacon of hope to supporters seeking a better future" - with some more pragmatic and profit-minded considerations - "Coin[s] collected are expected to rise in price. [] Buy into a new change, invest in a new era of democracy." The website also explicitly stated that the coin had the "Potential to become an official currency if Harapan wins [the] election."

Samad - who has been an MP since 2008 but became minister only with the advent of the new Pakatan Harapan government in July 2018 - is now the main driving force in promoting Harapan Coin post-election.

Now that the anti-BN coalition has prevailed, it looks like Samad is working to repurpose the Harapan Coin infrastructure to serve the fundraising needs of his coalition in the new political environment, where they are the incumbent political power rather than the opposition aspiring to topple a longstanding regime.

Is it now going to be a single political party's own coin? What about the vague promises of the possibility for the coin to become legal tender if the election was won? The fact that both the white paper and website haven't been updated since before the May election doesn't help to illuminate the matter.

On Nov. 13, he announced that paperwork for Harapan Coin's presentation before Bank Negara Malaysia and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. A week later, Samad mentioned that the project was under review by a Bank Negara Malaysia taskforce.

PushbackIt should come as little surprise that one of the biggest issues that critics take in regard to the design of Harapan Coin is the proposed distribution of the funds raised.

This was just one of the concerns raised by the nonprofit Centre for a Better Tomorrow in a recent statement that warned all the parties involved of the project going "Against the principles of good governance." The group's representative also stressed that the way the coin's design facilitates political donations from overseas may open up the Malaysian political system to influence from abroad.While it is hardly unexpected that recently deposed Prime Minister Najib Razak has spoken out against Harapan Coin, the sources of criticism are not confined to Samad's political opponents.