Prime Minister Joseph Muscat sees the burgeoning blockchain industry in Malta as a tool against money laundering in the European Union, as well as a way of cutting “layers of bureaucracy”, he said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday.

“I see blockchain as a technology being part of a solution when it comes to due diligence and anti-money laundering procedures,” Muscat said. “We’re quite aware of anti-money laundering issues all across Europe and I don’t think it can be pinned down on one particular country such as Malta.”

“We’re taking a calculated risk,” he said of the fact that the island was fast-tracking blockchain-related organisations and currently attracting crypto company after crypto company.

The crypto exchange Binance is just one of the many companies moving to or with express plans to relocate to Malta.

Pictured: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat delivering a speech at the Digital Assembly

Photo: MITA

Joseph Muscat pointed towards Malta’s iGaming industry as proof that Malta has always been ready to take risks in attracting novel industries

“In the same way that we came up with our regulation when it came to online gaming, we are trail blazers in all this,” Muscat said. “I think we can replicate this in this area too, where the EU will at the end of the day be doing what we are very much doing right here today.”

With Malta quickly becoming the crypto-friendliest nation in the world, and Malta’s stock exchange currently in discussions with companies to start listing their digital assets, it seems like Malta is well on its way to becoming the Blockchain Island.

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]