About Hata
Hata is a licensed Malaysian digital asset exchange regulated by both the Securities Commission and the Labuan Financial Services Authority, offering ringgit funding, a spot order book, recurring buys and staking to local retail investors. It answers a mismatch between fiat rails and regulatory access: local buyers often convert ringgit to dollars and use offshore venues, with slow settlement and little investor protection. Hata uses FPX and e-wallets for instant ringgit deposits and withdrawals, holds client funds 1:1 in segregated licensed trust accounts, and runs a maker-taker order book with zero maker fees and withdrawals straight to local bank accounts.
The product is split by jurisdiction: Hata Malaysia serves residents in ringgit, while Hata Global prices in dollars under the Labuan licence, with internal transfers between the two. Listings require Securities Commission approval, and the platform offers Shariah-compliant assets and staking reviewed by Amanie Advisors. The number of tradable assets is therefore paced by approvals, and depth outside the ringgit market is thin.
On April 20, 2026, Hata closed an $8 million Series A led by Bybit, with several Southeast Asian family offices participating; Bybit had already joined its $4.2 million seed round.
Proceeds go to liquidity, user growth and Malaysia-specific products developed with Bybit. On June 26, 2026, Hata launched a Rewards Hub combining referrals and Buddy Bonus, and it appeared at Malaysia Blockchain Week in July.
Future strategy and roadmap: Hata will use its dual licences from the Securities Commission and Labuan FSA to keep building compliant spot, staking and auto-invest products, while working with Bybit on tokenized RWAs and more local payment rails.
David Low — Co-founder & CEO; law graduate of the University of Reading, former Malaysian lawyer who led Luno's Asia Pacific business from 2018 to 2023.
KK Chong — Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer; veteran CTO who helped launch licensed exchanges in Indonesia and Singapore.
Darien Ng — Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer; 15 years in business and product management at Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei.
Hata charges a 0.00% maker fee across all nine tiers and steps its taker fee from 0.25% in tier 1 (30-day volume up to $50,000) down to 0.10% in tier 9 (above $10,000,001).
Hata's intermediate taker rates run 0.24%, 0.22%, 0.20%, 0.18%, 0.16%, 0.14% and 0.12%, with tiers recalculated daily on trailing 30-day volume.
In June 2023, Hata obtained a money brokerage licence from the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) for its US dollar crypto exchange and over-the-counter (OTC) desk; in July 2024 the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) granted approval to operate a digital asset exchange and digital broker.