Malta:
Podcast With Max Ganado: The Rise And Pause Of ‘Blockchain Island’
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Max Ganado participated in a
podcast that describes Malta’s rise and current state of play
within the blockchain space. The episode forms part of a series of
podcasts entitled ‘Blockchain won’t save the world’,
hosted by Anthony Day, that analyses the developments within
blockchain across different nations around the world. In the Malta
episode, participants spoke about: Malta’s role in supporting
blockchain businesses during the emergence of Bitcoin, ICOs and
VFAs; the purpose and establishment of a dedicated authority to
regulate the industry; the rush of ICOs, crypto and blockchain
businesses to Malta; and how everything came to nowadays post the
initial hype. In the concluding remarks, the participants also
express their views on what the future holds within this sector for
Malta as a recognised leader within the blockchain space.
Max started off the discussion by describing the emergence of
Malta within its pillar industries, namely shipping and financial
services, and how law became an enabling rather than an oppressive
tool to help such industries thrive. He describes the law and
regulations that came into force in 1990, contributing to the
island’s robust regulatory framework. He also details how the
initial idea around blockchain and DLT came along, describing how a
strategy document was initially presented to the local government
in 2017 which addressed the gap in regulation brought about by
disruptive technologies. Furthermore, he speaks about the
difficulties of decentralised blockchain arrangements, mainly from
due diligence and compliance point of view.
Max comments on what we’re to expect in the future. In his
opinion, Malta could embark on an environmentally friendly offering
of assisting innovation and bringing in legal support structures
and mechanisms to address potentially defective set-ups. He
describes the current opportunity for the island as that of having
the advantage to lock in regional solutions fast, as opposed to
other jurisdictions that do not have much experience within the
blockchain space. He further defines the next step of global
relevance as recognising legal personality for innovative
technology arrangements, which would solve fundamental difficulties
in legal systems, such as governance and liability issues.
Click here to listen to the
podcast.
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