Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has published a Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) Rulebook in order to regulate the issuers of VFAs that fall under the Virtual Financial Assets Act (VFAA). According to Joseph Borg who spoke to CCN, felt that even though the rulebook published by the MFSA was a step in the right direction, it still required refinements to fulfil its desired effect.
According to financial service providers that interacted with the CCN, the rulebook published seemed to be playing it very safe and in doing so would make conducting business more complicated than it needed to be, in regard to cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
“I strongly suggest to stakeholders to participate in this consultation in order to help the MFSA come up with a well-balanced regulatory framework that is robust and attractive at the same time. It is clear that some things published in the rule book need to be polished and, in some cases, toned down. However, if sensible responses with workable solutions to the consultation paper are received, I am sure that our regulators will take them on board and fine-tune the framework accordingly”.
-Joseph Borg
Dr Simon Schembri, a partner at Ganado Advocates Corporate Department, was careful to word his critique of the rulebook when he spoke of the back and forth process that is likely to follow in order to ensure that the rulebook is effective and doesn’t harm the cryptocurrency & blockchain industry.
“The two consultation papers relative to the first two chapters of the ‘Virtual Financial Assets Rulebook’ provide a well-defined framework for what will constitute the eventual two chapters of the Rulebook. There are some issues which merit further discussion with the regulator, and in fact, as interested parties in this space, we have already provided our feedback for relative amendments and clarifications within the time frame of the conclusion of the first consultation period relative to the first chapter. We are currently reviewing the second consultation paper relative to the second chapter, issued just two days ago and we will provide with our feedback to the regulator in due course.”
-Dr Simon Schembri
Things didn’t seem all cloudy though, as users on Twitter still seemed hopeful and optimistic about a decisive framework changing things for the better.
