Malta’s cryptocurrency licensing course of has come underneath scrutiny from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Europe’s main supervisory physique overseeing the Markets in Crypto-Property Regulation (MiCA).
The ESMA on Thursday launched a overview on the authorization strategy of crypto asset service suppliers (CASPs) by Malta’s Monetary Providers Authority (MFSA), highlighting a number of shortfalls and proposing a set of suggestions.
Regardless of saying the MFSA met sure expectations in supervisory setup and staffing, the EU watchdog stated the Maltese authorities solely “partially met expectations” within the authorization course of for an unnamed CASP.
Following the overview, the ESMA’s advert hoc Peer Assessment Committee (PRC) beneficial that MFSA “assess materials points that both have been nonetheless pending on the date of the authorization or that haven’t been adequately thought of on the authorization stage.”
Malta overview launched in April
The report comes over a yr after the MiCA framework got here into pressure on June 29, 2024, turning into a significant milestone within the EU’s method to regulating digital property.
Since MiCA is geared toward offering a unified and constant authorized framework for crypto within the EU, the regulator highlighted that MiCA’s authorization method applies to all Nationwide Competent Authorities (NCAs).
In December 2024, the European Banking Authority’s Board of Supervisors (BoS), the company’s fundamental decision-making physique, agreed on the adoption of a coordinated method for CASPs authorizations.
“Following a sequence of occasions, the BoS of ESMA determined, in April 2025, to launch a peer overview on the authorization and early supervision of a CASP by the Malta Monetary Providers Authority,” the report famous, including:
“Though the peer overview focused one NCA, nonetheless, it goals to foster supervisory convergence and enhance the supervisory practices of all NCAs, at a time when consistency throughout NCAs in authorization and setting supervisory expectations is vital.”
MFSA’s authorization falls wanting expectations
The ESMA’s PRC, the committee that performed the peer overview course of into MFSA, reported that MFSA has constructed a “good degree of experience on this sector and has enough supervisory assets for CASP authorizations and supervision.”
PRC’s overview involved three fundamental areas: the supervisory settings and assets, the authorization course of and the supervisory overview and use of sufficient powers.
Whereas absolutely assembly the supervisory settings necessities and largely assembly the supervisory overview guidelines, the report stated the MFSA has solely “partially met expectations” related to the “authorization of the precise CASP.”
Malta’s MFSA “wants to observe carefully the expansion in authorization functions” and determine and want to regulate supervisory practices in a well timed method, the PRC said.
Associated: Bybit, OKX broaden crypto providers in Europe underneath MiCA
It reiterated that each one the EU state NCAs have to think about this problem and strictly observe the requirements:
“Because of the novelty and nature of those kind of entities in addition to the inherent dangers of their enterprise mannequin, the PRC recommends to all NCAs, presently within the strategy of authorising CASPs, to pay explicit consideration to sure points of the authorization.”
4 MiCA CASPs licensed by MFSA
Because the ESMA didn’t disclose the identify of the CASP in query of the MFSA’s authorization misstep, it’s unclear whether or not the PRC’s advice to evaluate the problem would affect any of the issued licenses.
“It’s laborious to remark with out understanding precisely what the unresolved points have been,” XReg Consulting companion Nathan Catania instructed Cointelegraph.
“I wouldn’t count on any revocation or re-evaluation based mostly on the report,” he said.
In keeping with the MFSA register of licensed CASPs working underneath MiCA, there are presently 4 registered firms: BP23, buying and selling as Bitpanda; Foris Dax, buying and selling as Crypto.com; Okcoin Europe, buying and selling as OKX; and Zillion Bits, buying and selling as ZBX.
In April, Malta’s Monetary Intelligence Evaluation Unit fined Okcoin Europe $1.2 million after detecting sure violations relationship again to 2023. The penalty got here quickly after the MFSA granted a MiCA license to OKX in January 2025.
Cointelegraph approached the ESMA and the MFSA for remark concerning the overview’s potential affect on the MiCA-licensed firms in Malta, however didn’t obtain a response by publication.
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