The Maltese Department of financial services (MFSA) issued Guidance on virtual financial assets (VFA), which will regulate the activities of issuers under the Act of virtual financial assets.
The rulebook contains three chapters: provisions for agents working with digital assets for issuers and companies that provide financial services. MFSA is also preparing the Glossary with the definition of terms used in the regulations, which will be published in the coming weeks.
It should be noted that not all financial service providers perceived this guidance positively. There are those who call this document a cumbersome and overly cautious in some aspects, which do business in the cryptocurrency field can be difficult. Senior legal adviser to the company WH Partners Joseph Borg (Joseph Borg) believes that, although the decision to publish the rules and was good, it needs to work more. According to him, the rulebook will become really useful only after “polishing” .
“I encourage all stakeholders to participate in the MFSA consultation on the development of a well-balanced regulatory framework, which would be more reliable and attractive. Clearly, some provisions in the published document should be reviewed and, in certain cases, to mitigate. If the regulators get sensible advice with practical solutions, they will take them into consideration and will finalize the regulations,” said Borg.
About the set of rules from the MFSA also called Simon Schembri (Dr. Simon Schembri), partner at Ganado Advocates. However, his comments were more cautious.
“…In the rules there are some issues that require further discussion with the regulator, and, as a stakeholder, we have already provided feedback and suggested corrections and clarifications for the first Chapter… Now we review consultation letter regarding the second Chapter, written two days ago. We will provide comments in due course,” said Schembri.
Some stakeholders prefer to share anonymously, stating that the regulation should be radically revised, or run, he will not.
Recall that the set of laws dealing with the blockchain and cryptocurrency, the Chamber of representatives of Malta approved the 4th of July. The act of virtual financial assets will come into force once the Minister for the digital economy will publish an announcement in the official state Bulletin.
Despite the ongoing debates around the legal regulation of the cryptocurrency industry in the country, the largest representatives of the industry believe Malta is one of the most attractive countries for the development of cryptobytes. In March, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced the relocation of activities in Malta, and in July he founded the blockchain charity Fund with the support of the authorities of the country.
