This paper critically examines the regulation of crypto assets in Malta, which has become a jurisdiction of choice for operators in this field. It analyses the Virtual Financial Assets Act [VFAA] and the MFSA’s approach to the regulation of this new field of financial services. The paper examines the manner in which the VFAA achieves the high-level objectives of financial regulation set by international standard setters, such as International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), being: [i] investor protection, [ii] market integrity and [iii] financial stability. The central argument of the paper is that the VFAA establishes a framework that supports the innovation and new technologies for financial services in the area of crypto assets, whilst ensuring the effective achievement of the mentioned objectives of regulation. An important development in the carrying out of transactions over the internet has been the emergence of a new type of cryptographically encrypted digital assets, commonly referred to as crypto assets. Depending on their embedded features, crypto assets may be broadly categorised as cryptocurrencies, security tokens or utility tokens. Cryptocurrencies are used as a means of payment for goods and services and countries, such as Japan, have legally recognised them as a form of payment. They are also used for investment in other crypto assets, including offers of security tokens, which are generally issued to raise funds for specific projects by start-ups. Indeed, such offers are a practical alternative funding source for new or innovative businesses that would generally not be in a position to raise capital through traditional funding channels, as they would be at an early stage of development or are considered excessively risky and/or too small. For example, the development of the Ethereum blockchain, which is an operating system that features smart contracts, was funded by an online public crowd-sale during July– August 2014, with the participants buying ether token. Crypto assets and their associated technologies, notably Distributed Ledger Technology (“DLT”), are rapidly evolving and becoming more prevalent. At the time of writing of this paper there were more than 1600 crypto assets available over the internet having a market capitalisation in excess of USD 275 billion and more than 400 exchanges in the world, with a number of them being based in the European Union. Internationally, the equivalent of around Euro fifteen billion in funding has been raised through seven hundred twenty seven initial coin offerings issued in the first eight months of 2018. However, various risks are associated with the trading therein, which have been identified by European and international bodies. The novelty of the pertinent sector, combined with a lack of clear understanding of its disruptive impact over the existent financial services cosmos, has generally prevented jurisdictions from reaching a consensus on whether, how and to what extent these should be regulated. However, the significant rate of failure of entities having issued an initial coin offering, is a clear justification for the establishment of a regulatory framework to achieve the public interest. In view of the absence of a harmonised approach, and in order to ensure effective investor protection, market integrity and financial stability, a number of jurisdictions, including Malta, have decided to address the aforementioned regulatory issues on a national level. The academic literature on blockchain and crypto assets has grown at a very fast pace during the last year. This paper complements the existing literature by examining the legislative and regulatory developments in Malta, which is the EU’s smallest member state by population. The point is made that Malta’s framework for the regulation of crypto assets achieves the aforementioned objectives of financial regulation through a predominantly principles-based approach, which ensures technology neutrality without stifling innovation. Since the market capitalisation of crypto assets has not reached such point to be classfied as systemically relevant, the objective of financial soundness is analysed in this paper only at micro level. This paper has been prepared after carrying out research and analysis of information from various reports, articles, websites and other sources referenced throughout the body of the paper. It has benefited from the experience of the authors in Law and Financial Markets Review, 2019 Vol. 13, No. 1, 30–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/17521440.2018.1524687

中文翻译：

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马耳他对加密资产的监管：虚拟金融资产法及其他

本文批判性地考察了马耳他对加密资产的监管，马耳他已成为该领域运营商的首选司法管辖区。它分析了虚拟金融资产法 [VFAA] 和 MFSA 对这一新金融服务领域的监管方法。本文探讨了 VFAA 实现国际标准制定者（例如国际证券委员会组织 (IOSCO)）制定的金融监管高级目标的方式，即：[i] 投资者保护，[ii] 市场完整性和 [ iii] 金融稳定。该论文的中心论点是，VFAA 建立了一个框架，支持加密资产领域金融服务的创新和新技术，同时确保有效实现上述监管目标。通过互联网进行交易的一个重要发展是出现了一种新型的加密数字资产，通常称为加密资产。根据其嵌入的功能，加密资产可以大致分为加密货币、证券型代币或实用型代币。加密货币被用作商品和服务的支付手段，日本等国家在法律上承认它们是一种支付方式。它们还用于投资其他加密资产，包括提供安全令牌，这些令牌通常是为初创企业为特定项目筹集资金而发行的。事实上，对于通常无法通过传统融资渠道筹集资金的新企业或创新企业，此类提议是一种实用的替代资金来源，因为它们处于发展的早期阶段，或者被认为风险太大和/或太小。例如，2014 年 7 月至 8 月期间，以太坊区块链是一种具有智能合约的操作系统，其开发资金来自在线公开众筹，参与者购买以太币。加密资产及其相关技术，特别是分布式账本技术（“DLT”），正在迅速发展并变得越来越普遍。在撰写本文时，互联网上有超过 1600 种加密资产，市值超过 2750 亿美元，全球有 400 多家交易所，其中一些位于欧盟。在国际上，通过 2018 年前八个月发行的 727 次初始代币发行，已经筹集了约 150 亿欧元的资金。但是，欧洲和国际机构已经确定了与其中的交易相关的各种风险。相关部门的新颖性，再加上对其对现有金融服务领域的破坏性影响缺乏清晰的认识，通常使司法管辖区无法就是否、如何以及在多大程度上对其进行监管达成共识。然而，发行首次代币发行的实体失败率很高，这是建立监管框架以实现公共利益的明确理由。鉴于缺乏统一的方法，为了确保有效的投资者保护、市场完整性和金融稳定，包括马耳他在内的一些司法管辖区已决定在国家层面解决上述监管问题。去年，关于区块链和加密资产的学术文献以非常快的速度增长。本文通过研究马耳他的立法和监管发展对现有文献进行补充，马耳他是欧盟人口最少的成员国。重点是，马耳他的加密资产监管框架通过主要基于原则的方法实现了上述金融监管目标，确保技术中立性而不扼杀创新。由于加密资产的市值尚未达到被归类为系统相关的程度，本文仅在微观层面分析财务稳健性的目标。本论文是在对论文正文中引用的各种报告、文章、网站和其他来源的信息进行研究和分析后编写的。它得益于《法律与金融市场评论》(Law and Financial Markets Review, 2019 Vol. 13, No. 1, 30–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/17521440.2018.1524687 它得益于《法律与金融市场评论》(Law and Financial Markets Review, 2019 Vol. 13, No. 1, 30–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/17521440.2018.1524687 它得益于《法律与金融市场评论》(Law and Financial Markets Review, 2019 Vol. 13, No. 1, 30–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/17521440.2018.1524687