Malta’s Financial Services Authority Proposes Changes to Crypto Regulations
The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has started a public consultation period on changes to its crypto regulations in order to align with Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MICA) regulations set to take effect in December 2024. The public consultation period will end on September 29.
The revised rulebook proposes changes to the rules for exchanges, custodians, and portfolio managers to match the European Union’s MiCA. Malta had initially set up its crypto framework in 2018 with the Virtual Financial Assets (VFA).
Some of the noteworthy changes with regard to the VFA Rulebook include:
As the MiCA regulations are passed, all existing regulations in the EU nations will be replaced by the universal MiCA laws. Malta, being an EU member, had two choices: either wait 18 months for the MiCA laws to come into effect or modify the current regulations to align with the universal EU laws. The regulators chose the latter.
Crypto Regulations and MiCA in the EU
In October last year, the regulators announced that they would modify their existing crypto regulations to help VFA license holders comply with MiCA-based laws and receive a EU license. MiCA is founded on Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) principles, with several of its rules being taken from the same rulebook.
Apart from Malta, another EU nation, France, has also adjusted its existing crypto regulations to be in line with MiCA, which will come into effect in the beginning of 2024.
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