Malaysia Seeks Blockchain Dominance with MDEC Pilot Freelance Program

It would appear that Malaysia is looking towards the future with bright eyes with the recent announcement of the new Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) project. This new initiative is aimed at bringing in some freelancers who will help the country grow its blockchain industry.

Simply put, anyone who has the expertise and capabilities to make blockchain projects succeed is invited for a short stay in Malaysia.

This new announcement was made during the Malaysia Tech Week 2019, where Norhizam Abdul Kadir, the VP of MDEC growth ecosystem development spoke about the new project. He put particular emphasis on the matter of blockchain and its relevance to the future of Malaysia.

"We will be kicking it (the programme) off starting with Blockchain jobs. The number of Visas to be issued depends on the projects that will be run by blockchain companies in Malaysia," Kadir said.

Nem Malaysia CEO Jasmine Ng also weighed in on the matter, The Star reports, providing an insight as to how tech companies are looking at this new pilot program. Simply put, the corporate side of the industry is nothing but gleeful over the prospect of finding skilled foreigners to help them with blockchain. By getting strong with the digital distributed ledger technology, the country would be better prepared for the future economy.

On that note, there is the question of the effectiveness of hiring freelancers to help with this blockchain initiative. From the start, such an occupation would automatically come with fewer benefits as opposed to being hired by the companies full-time. As a result, this pilot project runs the risk of attracting only the dredge of the tech society.

If companies are willing to pay top dollar for short-term work, however, this could improve the odds of finding competent workers. So far, the tech companies are not willing to commit to providing specific amounts as to how much the freelancers would earn.