In Malta, all educational certificates will be stored on a blockchain, local English-language local media MaltaToday reports on Feb. 21. The initiative is reportedly the scaling-up of a two-year-old pilot project to include all the nation’s schools, including secondary school certificates issued by the state, church and independent schools. According to the report, the Maltese government signed a two-year contract with software company Learning Machine, to build on the aforementioned pilot project. During the signing ceremony at Castille, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reportedly claimed that Malta is the first country in the world to put all education certificates on a …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance has launched the testnet of its new decentralized exchange, Binance DEX, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 20. Per Binance, the exchange, powered by Binance Chain — a new blockchain and peer-to-peer (p2p) distributed system — is already available for customers. Users can create wallets and start exchanging tokens on the Binance DEX testnet. CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao explained that the new exchange will help users regain control of their private keys: “Binance DEX is a decentralized exchange with a decentralized network of nodes, where you hold your own private keys …

Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has added four new crypto derivative pairs to its platform, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 19. OKEx, the third-largest crypto exchange by trade volume, has announced the listing of Bitcoin SV (BSV), QTUM, DASH and NEO against Bitcoin (BTC) or Tether (USDT) on margin with a 3x leverage option. Last month, OKEx added seven new crypto derivative pairs to its platform, including Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), EOS (EOS), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP), as Cointelegraph reported on Jan. 3. As Cointelegraph wrote on Dec. …

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has issued a consultation on cybersecurity, associated with new technologies such as blockchain, the agency tweeted on Feb. 8. In a consultation document called “Guidance Notes on Cybersecurity,” the MFSA suggested that the agency’s cybersecurity system should comply with international standards, including guidelines by the European Banking Authority (EBA). The guidance notes are also based on a list of recognized cybersecurity policies such as CryptoCurrency Security Standard (CCSS) that was introduced in 2014 to provide guidance for the secure management of cryptocurrencies. The guidance notes are targeting professional funds that invest in virtual currencies, …

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claimed that the growth of blockchain in Malta has created major risks of money laundering and terrorism financing in the island’s economy, as per the local media. Malta is renowned for its crypto-friendly politics, whose efforts in the field have earned it the moniker of “blockchain island.” However, its push for becoming the international crypto hub has attracted criticism from both global watchdogs and local opposition. Crypto-friendliness is one of the main priorities for the Maltese government On Jan. 24, the Times of Malta reported on preliminary findings that the IMF allegedly presented …

A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has judged that the growth of blockchain in Malta has created significant risks of money laundering and terrorism financing in the island’s economy. The news was reported in local English-language daily the Times of Malta on Jan. 24. According to the article, the IMF announced its findings following a visit to the island, and isolated blockchain — alongside financial and remote gaming sectors and the government’s citizenship-by-investment scheme — as being high in their list of concerns regarding possible anti-money-laundering (AML) compliance violations. As reported, the Maltese parliament has passed three blockchain- …

Major crypto exchange Binance plans to expand to eight new countries in 2019, according to a report from crypto outlet The Block, Jan. 17. Following the report, a Binance spokesperson has declined to confirm six of the alleged locations in comments to Cointelegraph today, Jan. 18. Just a day after the major cryptocurrency exchange launched its new European-focused platform for fiat-crypto trading in Jersey, The Block published a report that included a screenshot of a spreadsheet allegedly outlining all the locations for Binance’s fiat-crypto exchanges that are already-launched, intended and under consideration. In addition to Uganda — which launched in …

A Maltese actor and two hosts of a local TV show have notified the police after a false report that they are involved in a Bitcoin investment scheme called “Bitcoin Revolution.” The story was reported by the Malta Independent and Malta Today on Thursday, Jan. 10. As per the Malta Independent, an article with a fake endorsement of Bitcoin Revolution was initially published on a website called Major News. It depicted two hosts of the One Breakfast show, Wayne Sammut and Elaine Degiorgio, and falsely claimed that Davide Tucci, a Maltese actor and TV star, was a guest on their …

The embattled leader of Malta’s opposition Adrian Delia has faced a fresh backlash over his criticism of the government’s pro-cryptocurrency stance. Delia’s comments were reported by national daily newspaper The Malta Independent on Jan. 6. Malta, whose president Joseph Muscat regularly praises both cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, has sought to become what it describes as a “Blockchain Island.” Despite signing a wealth of agreements and conspicuously welcoming crypto businesses such as crypto exchange Binance to its shores last year, Delia is not convinced about the current trajectory. For Delia, a lack of activity in recent weeks is cause for concern. …

Malta-based major cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has launched a new crypto derivative product, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph, Dec.19. As Cointelegraph reported at the beginning of the month, the new product — dubbed Perpetual Swap — is a virtual derivative that lets users speculate on the future value of BTC/USD, according to OKEx’s index. The press release notes that in the future, OKEx expects to launch more swap contracts with different tokens as well. Per the release, each swap contract currently has a notional value of $100 equivalent in Bitcoin (BTC) and features leverage ranging from 1x to …

Cryptocurrency exchanges registered in South Korea have overtaken their Maltese-registered counterparts by average daily trade volume in November. This is according to a report by cryptocurrency market data provider CryptoCompare, published Thursday, Dec. 6. The November edition of CCCAGG, a monthly crypto exchange review published by CryptoCompare, shows that South Korean exchanges, including Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Upbit among others, registered a combined $1.4 billion of average daily trade volume. In the meantime, their competitors in Malta had only achieved $1.2 billion. This is a significant change when compared to the October’s CCCAGG. According to CryptoCompare, back then the combined …

Malta has warned citizens about an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange serving its domestic market. Regulators ordered the platform to stop operating in a notice Dec. 5. The offending platform, OriginalCrypto, had first come to the attention of Italian officials concerned it may not have the required license to offer authorized “investment services and activities.” The platform’s owner, SolutionsCM Ltd., has now come under scrutiny from both countries, with Malta’s Financial Services Authority (MFSA) sharing the warning from Italy: “The Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) has ordered the following companies to cease infringement of art. 18 of the …