Malaysian billionaire steps down as executive chairman, focusing on issuing “horse currency” tokens
The founder of Malaysian investment giant Country Heights Holdings is leaving his post and is focusing on issuing a cryptocurrency.
According to an article in the news media The Edge Markets on September 28, billionaire Lee Kim Yew (also known as Lee Kim Tiong) will step down as Country Heights’ executive chairman in January 2021.
Lee said: “I will hand over the business of the listed company to the new director, and I will focus on the cryptocurrency business.”
The 65-year-old announced in 2018 that Country Heights will be committed to an initial coin offering (ICO) for the company’s own cryptocurrency (supposedly called “Horse Currency”).
Although the shareholders of the investment company initially approved the ICO plan at a meeting in 2018, Lee’s decision to step down is one of the few options that currently allows him to legally conduct an ICO. In January of this year, the Malaysian Securities Regulatory Commission, the country’s financial regulator, stated that ICOs must be issued only through approved cryptocurrency exchanges and not through listed companies.
Under these regulatory guidelines, one of Lee’s private companies (once it is licensed) can switch to the Country Heights project and issue tokens, and investment companies can still legally accept these tokens. Lee claims that one of his investment companies has “obtained all the approvals to continue to operate” and plans to launch “Horse Currency” by the end of this year.
Country Heights executives said: “My investment bank is operating and will release a white paper.”
If successful, the ICO initiated by Lee will make Country Heights one of the first listed companies to accept cryptocurrency payments on the Bursa Securities Exchange.
Before the reform of the regulatory system, the preliminary report of this ICO stated that Lee plans to issue 1 billion tokens. The company’s subsidiaries, including a luxury resort called the Golden Horse Palace and the Golden Horse Health Preserve (supposedly the source of the crypto asset Horse Currency’s name), will accept the use of tokens to consume products and services. However, the executive stated that he will continue to explore other aspects of the cryptocurrency field, including the issuance of security tokens.
Lee has been the executive chairman of the investment company since 2016 and is also the largest shareholder of Country Heights, owning more than 27% of the company’s 275 million shares.
The company’s current market value is approximately $72 million.
