Clyde Caruana, the Minister of Finance and Employment of Malta, revealed that its “blockchain island nation” plan is in trouble due to local banks’ reluctance to cooperate with innovative companies.
In an interview with local media Lovin Malta, Caruana pointed out that few local companies can reach cooperation with banks, and claimed: “Traditional banks have abandoned the blockchain in the early stages of the blockchain.”
“Banks must believe that becoming a’blockchain island nation’ is something that can really happen; if the bank does not participate, it will become very difficult.”
Caruana emphasized that it is necessary to invest in building the skills required by local enterprises to support the prosperity of the blockchain field. He said: “It is always possible to become a blockchain island country, but if we want to achieve it, we need to pay more. Work hard.”
Caruana’s “retail banking skepticism” has not only affected the blockchain, but also other emerging areas, such as Malta’s plan to support medical*****. In addition to banks’ apparent lack of interest in blockchain, Caruana emphasized that the lack of local skills is hindering the growth of new industries in Malta:
“This is not just a question of old and new industry, but a question of skills. If investors can’t find what they need, they may think twice. If we want to continue to attract investment to Malta, we must make sure that we are in terms of skills Have the necessary conditions.”
As part of Malta’s plan to become a global cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology center, the Maltese Parliament passed regulations supporting blockchain in 2018. Malta quickly became the headquarters of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchange Binance and OKEx at the time.
However, the resignation of former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in February 2020 triggered the disclosure of another incident: the Maltese Financial Services Authority did not issue a license to a cryptocurrency company.
Although the new government of Malta has publicly reaffirmed its commitment to make Malta a global cryptocurrency center, and the debit card provider and trading platform Crypto.com has become the first company to obtain a license from the local financial regulatory authority in Malta, progress is still slow .
