As Malta’s blockchain community grows, partly due to favourable regulations that facilitate improvement in the sector, cryptocurrency businesses continue to flock to its welcoming, warm, sunny shores!

The news that OKex was opening a Malta-based office with plans to use it as a foundation for future growth came as no surprise to most, as the country has gone out of its way to become the go-to place for global crypto and blockchain giants to operate in.

The Chinese exchange giant has a daily transaction volume of over $1 billion and said in a statement that Malta’s forward-thinking nature and recognition of the importance of continued development in the blockchain ecosystem was among the main factors that attracted it to the EU island nation.

Malta means business

Malta has joined players on the global stage in welcoming big businesses to set up shop on its warm shores. To demonstrate its determination, the Maltese government’s first step was to properly formulate a regulatory framework which seeks to bring stability into the often-tumultuous cryptocurrency industry. While this endeavour is not yet finalised, the government has taken some critical first steps, lending faith to companies that operate there, and to those that want to move in this budding space. In February, the government kicked off a three-week period of public consultation that sought to gather the public’s views on the crypto industry. Among the public bills up for public debate was the VC (virtual currency) bill, which sets out to establish a clear legal framework for ICOs in the country.

The MDIA bill is yet another bill that is open to public participation. The preliminary document aims to establish the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA), a regulatory body whose role will be to oversee the crypto industry in the country. It will be in charge of establishing new laws, providing licenses, undertaking research in the field and more. It will also supervise ICOs and will request for such information as the use of the funds collected in the ICO, the identity and prior experience of the founders, the allocation of their tokens and other crucial information. The MDIA will also foster the adoption of blockchain technology by other industries in the country such as the insurance and healthcare sectors.

However, Malta is not stopping there, as during a speech welcoming Binance to the country, Prime Minister Dr Muscat said that the Maltese regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry will be the best in the world.

He said: “They are not saying that they are coming to Malta because they can do what they want, they are saying they are coming because Malta is ready to regulate us, and we are bringing the consumer the peace of mind that there are people regulating this system.”

Malta’s economy is highly reliant on the service industry, with gaming alone accounting for over 15% of the economy. Luckily for cryptocurrencies, the Maltese education system heavily emphasises STEM subjects, offering abundant incentives for an armed and educated populous.

Big players moving to Malta

While OKex grabbed the headlines for moving to Malta, other big players like Binance have also announced their intentions to move there. In fact, Binance described Malta’s legislation as pro-blockchain and praised the stability that its regulatory framework offers financial technology companies.

A few days after the Binance announcement, Justin Sun, the founder of decentralized content platform TRON announced on Twitter that the company intends to follow Binance to Malta.

Clearly, Malta means business as far as cryptocurrencies are concerned, which is to say that it may be well on its way to becoming the ultimate global blockchain hub on the planet.