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Iman Muttaqin Yusof

A major Malaysian blockchain conference has dropped Siew Pui Yi, an influencer previously known for adult content, as the headline DJ for its official after-party after the country’s digital economy agency withdrew support.
The uproar tapped into a familiar cultural fault line in Muslim-majority Malaysia, putting the country’s push to promote itself as a regional technology and crypto hub in tension with conservative scrutiny of sexualised entertainment and provocative imagery.
Malaysia Blockchain Week announced on Monday that Siew, better known as Ms Pui Yi, would no longer perform at the event’s after-party on Thursday night.
“Following an update to our event arrangements, there has been a change to our Afterparty DJ line-up,” organisers said in a social media post. “MsPuiyi will no longer be performing as our headline DJ at the MYBW26 Official Afterparty.”
The announcement came after the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) said it had withdrawn its support for the event and ordered organisers to remove all materials bearing the name, logo or image of the agency, the Ministry of Digital and Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo.


Neither MDEC nor the ministry had been involved in planning, approving or promoting the party, including choosing its guests, the agency said.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Ministry of Digital and MDEC have withdrawn our support for Malaysia Blockchain Week 2026,” MDEC said, describing the organisers’ earlier reference to their “continued support” as inaccurate.
The organisers had apologised after promotional material advertising a “special guest DJ set by Ms Pui Yi” drew widespread criticism.
They acknowledged that the publicity had “caused concern and detracted from the core purpose” of the conference, which was intended to bring together blockchain executives, developers, investors and policymakers.
“Greater care should have been exercised” to ensure that activities connected to the conference reflected the professionalism expected of an event involving industry and public-sector stakeholders, the organising committee said.
Malaysia Blockchain Week also said it was reviewing its internal approval and governance procedures while stressing that neither the ministry nor MDEC had been consulted about the performer.
The controversy erupted after crypto-focused Malaysian social media account Bicara Krypto circulated the party poster and questioned why a professional event carrying government branding had booked a personality known for adult content.
“This is what I don’t understand about Malaysia Blockchain Week. It looked like a professional event, with a minister attending, and then suddenly they brought in a porn star,” the post said. “Are they promoting blockchain or sex?”
Discussion on the online forum Reddit was more divided, with some users questioning who had approved the booking for an event associated with government bodies, while others argued Siew was being condemned for a chapter of her career that she had already left behind.
“People treating former adult content creators like former inmates,” one user said.

Siew, a Malaysian influencer, entrepreneur and DJ with millions of followers, built a public profile through provocative modelling and content on subscription platform OnlyFans.
She announced in December 2022 that she would stop creating adult content and focus on music.
Siew returned to OnlyFans in September 2023, but said the new material was safe for work, before announcing in April 2025 that she had removed previous content from the platform.
Siew has faced conservative backlash before. A trailer for the 2023 Malaysian horror film Pulau, in which she appeared, was denounced by conservatives as “soft porn”, prompting the country’s film censorship board to defend its decision to approve the movie.
This Week in Asia has reached out to Siew’s management for comment.
Malaysia Blockchain Week is scheduled to proceed on Wednesday and Thursday at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, with the after-party still scheduled at ING Livehouse KL under a revised DJ line-up.
The conference’s website says its 2025 edition drew nearly 7,000 participants from the Web3 industry.


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The influencer and DJ was removed from the line-up after questions were raised over government branding associated with the event


The influencer and DJ was removed from the line-up after questions were raised over government branding associated with the event.


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Malaysia crypto event drops Ms Pui Yi as DJ after backlash over adult-content past

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The influencer and DJ was removed from the line-up after questions were raised over government branding associated with the event

The influencer and DJ was removed from the line-up after questions were raised over government branding associated with the event