The Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”) has received Letters of Intent from 34 prospective Virtual Financial Asset (“VFA”) Service Providers, 21 of which pertain to crypto-asset exchanges. These were operating under the transitory provisions set out in Article 62 of the VFA Act, and which transitory period ended on the 31st of October 2019. Entities wishing to continue their operations in or from Malta were required to apply for authorisation with MFSA by the end of this period.
The Letters of Intent are the first step of the authorisation process for such applications to obtain a VFA Services Licence, and following a meeting with the MFSA, the applicants will have 60 days to submit a full application.
Furthermore, the MFSA to date, has accepted 18 VFA Agent applications and the list of registered VFA Agents is available on the MFSA’s website.
By way of background, in November 2018, the VFA Act came into force which sets out a comprehensive framework targeting operators within the crypto-asset industry and seeks to regulate entities providing services in relation to crypto-assets, an area which remains largely unregulated throughout the EU.
Feel free to contact us on [email protected] if you require further information on the VFA framework.
