Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade value (they trade $1.4B a day), is packing their coins and moving west, from China to Malta.
According to Bloomberg, the Hong Kong-based company is planning to open an office to start a “fiat-to-crypto” (cash-to-coins) exchange on the pint-sized Mediterranean island, and soon sign a deal with local banks to provide access to deposits and withdrawals.
As countries across the globe try to figure out how to regulate the roller coaster that is crypto, China has already made up its mind: banning ICOs, and prohibiting local exchanges from trading in cryptocurrency.
Cue an uproar from crypto sympathizers, and Malta — the smallest capital in the EU — swooping in to welcome Binance with open arms.
Malta’s prime minister believes crypto is “the inevitable future of money” and, in turn, Malta’s economy.
The country is adopting some of the most crypto-friendly regulations in the industry, promising legal certainty for exchange owners in a space that is largely unregulated.
The question is whether other exchanges will follow in Binance’s footsteps and create a Maltese crypto haven.