Malaysia gold-trading firm HelloGold to shut shop

Malaysian investment platform HelloGold is closing its doors in its home country and Thailand on February 2 due to the tough macroeconomic climate.

The decision was made as HelloGold’s services were “no longer commercially viable,” CEO and co-founder Robin Lee said in an email to depositors.

HelloGold founder and CEO Robin Lee / Photo credit: HelloGold

The firm’s customers are still free to buy and sell gold through its platform, but any remaining gold held after 7 a.m. Malaysia time on February 2 will automatically be sold at noon the same day.

Customers on HelloGold’s Smart Saver product, which automatically trades gold at lower rates, will have all their gold transferred to their regular HelloGold accounts by 12 noon Malaysia time on Firday.

“We expect that the platform may experience high traffic following this announcement and therefore apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused,” the company said.

See also: Why are Gojek, Bukalapak, and Tokopedia gunning for digital gold?

HelloGold was founded in 2015 by Lee and Ridwan Abdullah, who’s also the firm’s strategy lead. The company said it was the first Shariah-compliant platform for buying and selling gold.

It joins the growing list of startups in the region that are shutting down, including the likes of Singapore’s UglyFood, Malaysia’s Kaodim, Indonesia’s TokoTalk, and Vietnam’s Propzy.