Malta is Preparing to Become the World’s First Blockchain Regulated State

Malta is approaching of being the world’s first country to have a blockchain regulation. Starting with 16 February 2018, Malta got involved in “three-week-long period of public consultation”. When the time is over, the new regulation will be presented to Parliament.

The Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Schembri expects that the new law will raise the island-state to the level of a “world leader in economic innovation”, replied MaltaToday.

For a local media, he stated that “the purpose of these laws will be to provide legal certainty to a space that is currently unregulated. It will provide an environment conducive to this technology, and it will make Malta the natural destination for businesses working in this field”.

The laws that are expected by the authorities are the MDIA bill– dedicated to lay the foundation of the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA); the TAS bill– which would establish a base for technology service providers; and the VC bill– which would establish a law for the use of ICOs.

According to Schembri, the MDIA bill “will promote government policy that favours the development of Malta as a hub for new and innovative technologies”.

With the help of these three laws, it’s desirable to regulate the following Distributed Ledger Technology platforms: private platforms dedicated for internal consumption, private platforms that are available for other parties outside the base-company and public network, like Ethereum and Bitcoin.

Why Malta has resorted to these measures?

According to Schembri, the government reached the moment when they need to offer “market integrity, market stability and investor protection”. By implementing the necessary laws, the government will have the chance to answer at numerous questions about services and economy.

The Parliamentary Secretary said that “We would like to be leaders. What are presenting here is serious work. We are ready to start.”.

The MDIA, TAS and VC bills will change the way Malta is using the blockchain technology. The end of the consultation period will take place on 9 March 2018. Until then, we can only imagine how will look the new regulation.