Malta has become a world-leader in crypto-friendly regulation, with a series of policy moves leading to some dubbing the country “blockchain island.” Binance, the world’ largest crypto exchange by daily trade volume, is perhaps the highest-profile business to relocate to the tiny European island state, but OKEx and BitBay also have operations there. Over the last two days yet more forward-thinking news is emerging from the island’s pioneering government.
As of yesterday, July 4th, Malta has passed a raft of policies which clarify the country’s regulatory and legal framework with regards to the blockchain and crypto sector. The new bills are the Virtual Financial Asset Act, the Digital Innovation Authority Act and the Innovative Technological Arrangement and Services Act, and seem destined to provide a comprehensive legal basis for a wide range of applications in the sector.
The country’s Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri, noted in his Twitter feed that the developments will make Malta “the first world jurisdiction to provide legal certainty to this space.” Schembri further commented that he felt this clarification of regulation in the country would encourage more international organisations to come to Malta.
There have also been significant moves to incorporate blockchain tech into the wider governance of the country. Most recently, Malta’s Transport Minister announced the government is working with UK-based Omnitude to develop a distributed ledger (DL) public transport application. The Maltese government are also exploring the use of blockchain-based recording systems for academic certifications, and the Malta Gaming Authority are developing guidelines for the use of blockchain in game development. This tiny country is truly blazing a trail in promoting the use of blockchain and crypto, and this latest news suggests this may only be the beginning.
