The line between Malaysian banking and Malaysian crypto just got crossed — deliberately, and with regulatory blessing.
Kenanga Investment Bank has raised its stake in Kinetic DAX (KDX) from 19% to 81.70% through a fundraising and capitalisation exercise, making the exchange — formerly Tokenize Malaysia — a Kenanga subsidiary and Malaysia's first bank-backed digital asset exchange.
The numbers behind the deal
KDX offers more than 20 of the 23 SC-approved digital assets and has facilitated over RM1.5 billion in cumulative trading volume. Kenanga first bought into the exchange in 2022; today's move converts a strategic bet into a core business line. Group managing director Datuk Chay Wai Leong and KDX CEO Chan Wei Chi framed the deal as pairing the bank's balance sheet and compliance depth with the exchange's licence and technology.
What bank ownership changes
Everything customers can't see: capital adequacy, internal audit, board governance, institutional distribution. In a market where Luno holds over 90% share, a challenger with an investment bank's resources is the most credible competitive event since licensing began — and a template regulators across the region will be watching. The traditional financial system isn't fighting Malaysia's digital asset market anymore. It's buying in.