On the 10th of December 2024, the Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”), published a circular titled ‘Circular to the Industry on the Authorisation Process for MiCA Applicants’. The purpose of this circular is to provide clarity on the application process in Malta under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and Council on markets in Crypto-Assets (“MiCA Regulation”). The MiCA Regulation was integrated into Maltese law through Chapter 647 of the Laws of Malta, titled the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (hereinafter referred to as “MiCA Act”). As outlined previously, the MiCA Act provides transitory provisions for the eventual repeal of the Virtual Financial Assets…
Family offices which choose to manage their global investments from Malta have been given a new legal exemption through a recent amendment in the applicable investment services rulebook of the Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”). On the 27th of November 2024, the MFSA issued a circular titled “Establishment of Single Family Offices in Malta”. The circular provides that a Notified Professional Investor Fund (“NPIF”) which is set up to solely manage the investment of a single family office (without raising external capital) does not require a licensed fund manager anymore. This is a beneficial exemption which reduces cost and bureaucracy…
Chapter 647 of the Laws of Malta, titled the Markets In Crypto-Assets Act (hereinafter referred to as “Chapter 647”), integrates all aspects of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and Council on markets in crypto-assets (“MiCAR”). MiCAR regulates the issuers of asset-referenced tokens (“ARTs”), electronic money tokens (“EMTs”), other types of tokens, as well as the conduct of crypto asset service providers (“CASPs”). Malta’s presidential assent to Chapter 647 was given on the 5th of November 2024 through Act No. XXXVI of 2024 (“Act 36 (2024)”); and it was promulgated on the same day. Similar to MiCAR, Act 36…
