Questions and Answers for the Application for Service Provider Licence
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Questions and Answers for the Application for Service Provider Licence

Mal­ta has devel­oped a pro­gres­sive approach towards dis­trib­uted ledger tech­nolo­gies and cryp­tocur­ren­cies, to the extent that we have now have a reg­u­lat­ed frame­work. The VFA Act is an inno­v­a­tive leg­is­la­tion which reg­u­lates Ini­tial Vir­tu­al Finan­cial Assets Offer­ings and out­lines their licens­ing require­ments, enti­tled The Vir­tu­al Finan­cial Assets Act, 2018. Now, if you are a Ser­vice...

DWP VFA Agent Ltd. fully accredited by the MFSA
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DWP VFA Agent Ltd. fully accredited by the MFSA

On the 13th of May 2019, DWP VFA Agent Ltd. was for­mal­ly grant­ed a license to pro­vide the ser­vices of a VFA Agent in terms of Arti­cles 7 and 14 of the Vir­tu­al Finan­cial Assets Act (Cap. 590 of the Laws of Mal­ta). The accred­i­ta­tion was a cul­mi­na­tion of months of hard work by Dr....

Regulation of crypto currencies and ICOs — International comparison
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Regulation of crypto currencies and ICOs — International comparison

Reg­u­la­tion of cryp­to cur­ren­cies and ICOs are high on the agen­da of gov­ern­ments and finan­cial super­vi­so­ry author­i­ties across Europe. Hard­ly any insti­tu­tion is cur­rent­ly not look­ing into how cryp­to cur­ren­cies and inno­v­a­tive forms of financ­ing such as ICOs and STOs should be legal­ly clas­si­fied or reg­u­lat­ed. How­ev­er, the approach­es and views dif­fer wide­ly. Pas­sive, active...

Getting ready for an ICO in Malta
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Getting ready for an ICO in Malta

Hav­ing cho­sen Mal­ta as the place to set up an ICO giv­en all the reg­u­la­to­ry, lan­guage and the work­force tal­ent ben­e­fits asso­ci­at­ed with this juris­dic­tion, ICO busi­ness­es need to be aware that there are a num­ber of con­sid­er­a­tions which must be tak­en into account before the actu­al offer­ing of their cryp­to-asset to the pub­lic. These...

Setting up a Crypto Exchange in Malta
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Setting up a Crypto Exchange in Malta

Introduction. The pop­u­lar­i­ty of Cryp­to-Exchanges is on the rise. With more entre­pre­neurs will­ing to set up these plat­forms, it makes sense to analyse the impor­tant role Mal­ta [now ubiq­ui­tous­ly known as ‘Blockchain Island’] is play­ing in this new realm of inno­v­a­tive cryp­tocur­ren­cy-based ser­vices. Quite frankly, giv­en the per­ceived ‘high risk’ when deal­ing with Exchanges, Mal­ta...

MFSA Publishes Guidance Note Against Crypto Scams & Appoints First VFA Agents
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MFSA Publishes Guidance Note Against Crypto Scams & Appoints First VFA Agents

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there are scams and dubi­ous projects in the cryp­to world that try to rob investors of their hard earned mon­ey. Such fraud­u­lent schemes not only lead to the loss of investor assets, they also dam­age the blockchain and cryp­toscene. As Blockchain Island, Mal­ta enjoys an excel­lent rep­u­ta­tion as the loca­tion of choice for cryp­to...

Initial Coin Offering (ICO) vs. Security Token Offering (STO) in 2019
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Initial Coin Offering (ICO) vs. Security Token Offering (STO) in 2019

The buzz­word for alter­na­tive fundrais­ing has been ICO for a “long time” —  “long” in rela­tion to the short lived tech­ni­cal world we are all work­ing in. In actu­al terms, the hype last­ed less than 2 years. There has been plen­ty of good and bad news around the ICO, very recent­ly a lot more bad...

MFSA Publishes Consultation Guide on Cybersecurity Regulations for Blockchain Companies and VFA Agents
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MFSA Publishes Consultation Guide on Cybersecurity Regulations for Blockchain Companies and VFA Agents

Few indus­tries are more affect­ed by digi­ti­sa­tion than the finan­cial indus­try. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly evi­dent in Mal­ta in view of the many Fin­tech start-ups and, of course, the boom around the inno­v­a­tive blockchain tech­nol­o­gy. Accom­pa­ny­ing this is the cre­ation of vir­tu­al finan­cial assets and the pro­vi­sion of dig­i­tal finan­cial ser­vices using Dis­trib­uted Ledger Tech­nol­o­gy (DLT)....

Malta’s New Tech Authority: Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA)
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Malta’s New Tech Authority: Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA)

The Mal­ta Dig­i­tal Inno­va­tion Author­i­ty (the “MDIA”) is reg­u­lat­ed by the Mal­ta Dig­i­tal Inno­va­tion Author­i­ty Act, Chap­ter 591 of the Laws of Mal­ta. It is an inde­pen­dent organ­i­sa­tion hav­ing dis­tinct legal per­son­al­i­ty and  com­plete auton­o­my from oth­er bodies/ per­sons. It was estab­lished to address the devel­op­ment of all Inno­v­a­tive Tech­nol­o­gy Arrange­ments (“ITAs”) and Inno­v­a­tive Tech­nol­o­gy...