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Malta Gov’t Committed to ‘Blockchain Island’ Vision Despite Criticism

Osato Avan-Nomayo · @OsatoNomayo | Jan 08, 2019 | 02:00

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Malta’s government has hit back at recent claims by the opposition leader, Adrian Delia, about its silence and inaction concerning the cryptocurrency market.

Committed to the ‘Blockchain Island’ Vision

In an interview with the Nationalist Party’s NET FM, Delia declared that the prolonged cryptocurrecy bear market was a cause for concern for many stakeholders.

He expressed concerns over the government’s silence in the matter saying investors had a right to know the government’s position given the state of the market. For Delia, the government’s silence is in stark contrast to its claim of striving to make Malta ‘the global blockchain island.’

According to the Malta Independent, the government is taking steps to improve the regulatory landscape of the country’s local cryptocurrency arena. Most of these efforts are coming through the Parliamentary Secretariat for Financial Services, Digital Economy, and Innovation.

For the Secretariat, the focus is on creating an enabling environment for all stakeholders in the market to thrive. Thus, the government says it is trying to balance regulations with protection for investors.

In 2018, the Mediterranean Island nation rose to prominence as a preferred destination for many cryptocurrency companies. Exchange platforms, in particular, chose to move their businesses to the country. Many of these platforms claimed unfavorable regulations in their previous locations as the reason for the move.

Binance, OKEx, BitBay, and Zebpay were among some of the prominent exchanges to make the move in 2018. This influx of high-volume trading platforms catapulted the tiny nation to the top of the global cryptocurrency trading volume charts.

Regulating the Local Cryptocurrency Industry

In mid-2018, Malta became the first nation to provide ‘legal certainty’ for cryptocurrencies. The nation’s parliament passed three bills into law as part of efforts to firm up crypto regulations in the country.

Both Binance and OKEx signed agreements with the Maltese Stock Exchange (MSX) to create regulated security token exchange platforms. The move formed part of the growing appeal of security tokens that gained a lot of steam in 2018.

Do you think that there are any merits to Delia’s claims of inaction by the government concerning cryptocurrency? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Malta Today, Shutterstock