By There seems to be an ongoing battle between certain European countries who are looking to cryptocurrency as a means to boost their economies. Many are inviting blockchain & cryptocurrency companies into their borders by implementing regulation processes that would be friendly to the blockchain sector.
Two nations in particular that are vying for the favour of the cryptocurrency & blockchain industries are Malta & Gibraltar and in light of recent geopolitical events taking place in the EU, it seems that Malta has pulled full steam ahead in the competition due to their position of remaining in the European Union
In the past couple of years both Gibraltar & Switzerland have cemented themselves as advocates for companies who utilise Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) but since the events of Brexit, many companies are on the search for countries which grant access to an entire market.
Before the start of the recent Delta Summit In Malta, Kris Marszalek, who is CEO of Crypto.com, a wallet service, explained to Bloomberg why his company opted for Malta over Gibraltar:
“Malta is staying in the European Union, and that’s not going to change. I went to Gibraltar a while ago and they were very open about the fact that they had no certainty about what’s coming — it doesn’t look as if anything has changed since then.”
Due to the fact that Malta remains in a solid position to remain part of the EU while Gibraltar’s status remains uncertain, potential investors believe that their offerings & products will be more accessible to EU markets if they position themselves in Malta.
Despite Being The Popular Choice Malta Might Not Be The Perfect Location:
Even though many DLT & Blockchain companies are making the move to Malta, this country is not without its share of challenges due to political issues.
It has been reported that the European Commission will be issuing formal binding demands to Malta’s financial regulator in an effort to reduce the alarming amounts of illegal activities taking place in the nation, which includes money laundering and corruption.
Although Malta is thriving financially, there are some hints that their success could be as a result of questionable actions, including the sales of Maltese passports to foreigners for up to as much as 650 000 Euros. The opposition to Malta’s leaders have also accused the government of funnelling illicit funds through charities.
A Maltese opposition leader by the name of Jason Azzopardi, wrote about this potential money-laundering being carried out by the government:
“It’s [like] thinking that prostitution is OK once part of the proceeds are donated by the pimp to charity.”
It was just last year that a reporter was murdered in a car-bombing following his report on government corruption which signalled many companies based in Malta that the country could be at risk if the EU was to expel them from the union.
Despite all these obvious risks that come with being based in Malta, hordes of companies, which include crypto companies Binance & Waves are relocating their HQs to the island nation in hopes that they can avoid the risks and regulatory constraints that they face in a number of Asian and North Amercian nations.
Joseph Muscat, Malta’s Prime Minister, previously discussed Malta’s move to become a crypto sanctuary, saying:
“Over the last months, the Maltese government has actively solved how to position Malta as a major hub in terms of the digital economy, which will play a central role in the economic sustainability of the years to come.”
This is all up in the air for now as the country waits to see how the pending EU formal binding commands will affect their position as the leading cryptocurrency haven.
We’ll have to wait and see if Malta remains the crypto-friendly nation it is, do you think that the pending binding commands could mark the end for them? Let us know your thoughts.
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