‘Don’t Over-Regulate Us’, Excited Silicon Valley Crypto Investor Cautions Malta
As Malta published three much-anticipated bills to regulate the blockchain technology last night, renowned Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper had a resounding message to the government.
“When you regulate blockchain, Bitcoin and Initial Coin Offerings, you must think in terms of a very simple regulatory schema,” Draper said. “We’re talking about a very light touch and a very simple schema so that everyone can understand how the system works and will only have to fill out one-page forms. That will win in the long-term.”
Draper was a guest of honour at an event at Castille held to launch the Delta Summit, an official government summit on the blockchain industry that will be held between 3rd-5th October. Entrepreneurs, lawyers, corporate sponsors and officials from MITA and Malta Enterprise mingled with each other, and there was a clear sense of excitement that Malta is at the cusp of something special.
Several crypto companies are sponsoring the Delta Summit
Wearing a Bitcoin-inspired tie and oozing with self-confidence, Draper pretty much embodied the country’s dreams for this new industry. A new Silicon Valley in Malta, the island at the forefront of global blockchain innovation and, of course, plenty of high-paying jobs to go around.
“You’ve got a big lead and an early start over the other countries,” the California billionaire said. “Throughout history, the bigger countries have always had more clout, but now they are like large and heavy boats which are difficult to turn, while small countries are like little boats which can quickly navigate the waters. You have a major opportunity to punch above your weight!”
“These ICOs started in Switzerland; it had the tiger by the tail until it started adding so many regulations that it became bureaucratic,” he said. “Then the ICOs moved to Singapore, until it too started slowing them down through regulations. No country was really ready for this but Malta will have it wired for them. You want innovators to move here, because that’s how countries become wealthy.”
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao
A murmur went through the crowd as the screens lit up to broadcast a message from Changpeng Zhao – the Chinese founder of crypto exchange giant Binance, which is set to relocate its headquarters to Malta in the wake of regulatory issues in Hong Kong and Japan.
Zhao was clearly delighted by Malta’s plans, going so far as to describe the Maltese regulators he spoke to and advised as “some of the smartest and most forward-thinking people on the planet”.
“Malta now has legal clarity in the blockchain space,” he said. “The bill clearly states what you can do as a blockchain business, it protects investors and it encourages innovation. The regulators are very reasonable and very approachable and they work as hard as entrepreneurs do.”
And Draper was clearly impressed, turning around to tell parliamentary secretary Silvio Schembri with a shine in his eyes: “Wow! You’ve got Binance! He’s hopped from one country to another, and I think he’s now finally found his home, and it’s here and that’s great.”
It is clear that the excitement and interest shown in Malta by these new big blockchain players is the proposed law’s lack of over-regulation, a signal of confidence by the government that their effects on society will be largely positive. However, questions remain as to what balance will be struck between keeping an enticing regulatory framework and applying safeguards to clamp down strongly on any criminal elements that manage to infiltrate the industry – just as they had infiltrated igaming.
The jury is still out on crypto companies, and the repercussions of Malta’s decision to embrace them with open arms could frame the global debate.
What do you make of Malta’s crypto ambitions?
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