Malta had once been a stranger to cryptocurrency, but ever since 2017, the country has become the hub of cryptocurrency companies owing to the mass adoption of Blockchain technology. The establishment of several cryptocurrency companies in Malta has led to the flow of $60 billion worth of crypto in the country that has now raised concerns of financial scams. The Financial Action Task Force of the world convened a conference in Paris to probe into the cryptocurrency exchange of Malta and assess the development of the cryptocurrency center in the country. At the meeting, the authorities of Malta assured that the financial condition is quite under control in the country.
One of the conference agendas was to decide whether Malta should be included in the list of countries that do not take any measure for the prevention of financial crimes. The authority of Malta declared that Malta is highly regulated, and the exchange of $60 billion represents only 2% of the entire cryptocurrency transactions of the world. It seems that Malta may not be in trouble after all, as the financial records of the country seem more or less accurate. Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, relocated its office to Malta, thereby indicating the transparency of the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges.
However, there have been reports of unprecedented losses at the crypto forums of Malta suffered by clients based in Southern Europe. It has also been reported that the Maltese authorities have refused to issue the cryptocurrency service license to Binance. There has been a rise in the number of prosecutions in financial crimes in Malta, but according to the reports of the FATF, most of the crimes are trivial. Nevertheless, it is of concern because today’s criminals are gradually shifting online for money laundering and embezzlement, and as such, Malta should exercise more authority to maintain security.