According to Cointelegraph: Malta's Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has initiated a public consultation to revise its existing crypto regulations, aligning them with Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. The public consultation will run until September 29, and MiCA regulations will come into effect from December 2024.
The new proposed rulebook suggests amendments to the rules for exchanges, custodians, and portfolio managers to bring them in line with the EU’s MiCA. This is consistent with the approach of other EU nations, including France, to align their regulations with MiCA.
Notably, the proposed changes include:
1. Removing the systems audit requirement for Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) license holders.
2. Reducing capital requirements for Class 3 and 4 license holders to $133,000 and $159,000 respectively.
3. Removing the professional indemnity insurance requirement.
4. Updating the outsourcing requirements in line with MiCA.
5. Incorporating the service-specific rules of MiCA into the VFA rulebook, which will impact exchanges, order execution, and client suitability.
Also, the requirements relating to client categorization and the requirement for a Risk Management and Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Report have been removed.
The MFSA believes that making early adjustments to their existing crypto regulations will allow VFA license holders to smoothly transition to MiCA-based laws and obtain an EU license. Besides Malta, France is another EU nation that has adjusted its existing regulatory guidelines for crypto to comply with MiCA.
