Regulatory frameworks concerned with blockchain and other distributed ledgers are crucial to legitimising cryptocurrencies and give users control over their finances. While countries like China and India have taken a prohibitive stance towards cryptocurrency regulation, Malta has completely embraced the Blockchain Technology

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2. How Malta became the Blockchain island?
Regulatory frameworks concerned with blockchain and other distributed ledgers
are crucial to legitimising cryptocurrencies and give users control over their
finances. While countries like China and India have taken a prohibitive stance
towards cryptocurrency regulation, Malta has completely embraced the Blockchain
Technology. Malta has provided blockchain companies with a conducive
environment to develop their product by focusing on long-term development
instead of short-term financial gains. Here’s a look at the reasons why Malta has
gained worldwide recognition for its support of Blockchain Technology.
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3. Malta’s regulatory Framework for Blockchain
Malta’s Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation,
Silvio Schembri claims that passing laws to assure the legal certainty of distributed
ledger technology was essential for long-term growth in the sector. Schembri
claims that blockchain projects suffer from a fear of government actions which can
outlaw their work and even put them in jail.Such concerns are not evident, as seen
from the recent arrests of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges Unocoin
founder, for setting up India’s first Cryptocurrency ATM.
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4. Earlier this year in July, the Parliament of Malta passed three laws establishing the
regulatory framework for Blockchain Technology and other Distributed Ledger
Technology (DLT) which led to the country being called as the Blockchain Island.
Following are the laws passed in Malta:
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5. Malta Digital Innovation Authority Act (MDIA): The MDIA Act establishes the
Malta Digital Innovation Authority and certifies DLT platforms. Its primary focus is
to promote and develop the innovative technology sector in Malta by using and
providing formal recognition and regulation of relevant, innovative technology
arrangements and related services. This Act forms the basis of offering legal
backing to blockchain projects and ensures that certification is only provided to
legitimate projects.
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6. Innovative Technology Arrangement and Services Act: The ITAS Act set up
the governmental mechanism through which blockchain companies can get
certified as needed. The ITAS Act lists some conditions that can make a company
eligible to get certified in Malta. The list of conditions includes software and
architectures which are used in designing and delivering Distributed Ledger
Technology which can be either distributed, decentralized, shared, or replicated
ledger and several others. Hence, the ITAS Act is primarily concerned with the
setting up of exchanges and other companies related to distributed ledger
technology.
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7. Virtual Financial Assets Act: The VFA Act is concerned with the oversight of
regulating ICOs, cryptocurrency exchanges, and wallet providers. An essential
aspect of the VFA Act is the provision that grants the Malta Financial Services
Authority (MFSA) the power to prescribe a test to be known as the ‘financial
instrument test’ (FI Test). The FI test helps establish the legal definition of the
token being evaluated to categorize it as a financial instrument.
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8. Blockchain Capital Moving to Malta
At a time when governments around the world are trying to curtail the freedoms of
blockchain companies and cryptocurrency exchanges, Malta has taken the exact
opposite approach by providing a firm regulatory framework for DLTs. This has led
to some of the biggest players in the blockchain space to move their offices to
Malta.
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9. China-based Binance which routinely tops the overall Bitcoin volume has invested
heavily in creating new offices based in Malta which conforms to the framework of
the European Union and the Maltese government. Bittrex which is one of the
largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States has also opened a new
exchange based in Malta.
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10. Several other high profile exchanges such as OKEx and Bithumb are also
evaluating making a switch to Malta as the legal backing can help these
companies work more safely in the long term. Earlier this year, South Korean
authorities raided the offices of Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency
exchanges on the pretence of a regular financial audit.
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11. China has also pulled similar stunts with exchanges that operate out of China.
With no legal backing in both China and South Korea, the exchanges had no
option but to take the losses. Therefore, when thinking of long-term growth, these
companies are choosing to move to Malta to develop their products and services.
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12. Blockchain Council Certifications
You can check out our certifications, and kick start your career in the Blockchain
space today.
● Certified Blockchain Expert
● Certified Blockchain Expertv2
● Certified Blockchain Developer
● Certified Smart Contract Developer
● Certified Solidity Developer
● Certified Ethereum Developer
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13. THANK YOU!
Any questions?
You can mail us at
hello@blockchain-council.org
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