The MSFA, Malta Financial Service Authority, has released Chapter 3 of its Virtual Assets Rulebook: Virtual Financial Asset Rules for VFA Service Providers. The chapter focuses on the criteria VFA (Virtual Finance Assets) service providers need to adhere to if they wish to obtain a VFA Services license under the laws of Malta. This is of course massively important for the cryptocurrency community, as Malta being cryptocurrency hub, with many cryptoexchange platforms based there, so the contents of the chapter will have a direct knock-on effect to the community at large. Within the chapter, it outlines different licenses on offer to VFA companies and the criteria by which they will be obtained and the policies and procedures that need to be in place in a general sense. While also focusing specifically on exchange platforms, with a 10-point checklist which exchange platforms need to adhere in order to operate legitimately. The most interesting element of the new chapter details their position on privacy coins, particularly the controversial anonymity factor they provide the user. To give a quick summary, it states that “Licence Holders shall not perform services in relation to any VFAs which have an inbuilt anonymisation function, unless the holder and transaction history of that VFA can be identified.” This is a significant revelation, as it indicates a clamp down on the illegal activity that can come from the use of these types of currency. If you want full details on everything the chapter outline, you can read the whole thing here.