It is reported that Morgan Stanley analyst Sheena Shah and her team analyzed the data of the website Coinmarketcap based on the cryptocurrency data analysis and the company registration information listed on the relevant exchange’s website for all countries’ cryptocurrency exchanges. The study pointed out that the United Kingdom is the largest place for digital exchanges, but its trading volume is only 1% of the world, and Malta currently has the largest share of the world’s cryptocurrency transactions. The influence of regulatory factors cannot be underestimated.

The top five countries in terms of cryptocurrency trade volume are Malta, Belize, Seychelles, the United States, and South Korea. The countries with the most exchanges are Britain, Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, and Turkey. Among them, the data analysis of Malta and Belize became one of the main findings of the study. The two countries ranked first and second according to trading volume respectively, but the number of registered companies was only ranked 22nd and 24th respectively.

The researchers said that the results may seem contradictory, but in fact it is because there are relatively large countries in the world with relatively large cryptocurrency exchanges. Following the announcement of Binance’s relocation of its headquarters to Malta in March this year, OKEx has officially announced the expansion of its business to Malta. Shah commented:

“The world’s largest exchange security company has announced the establishment of its headquarters in Malta, so if we remove this company, Malta will be ranked higher.”

Another finding of the Morgan Stanley team is that while the United Kingdom is currently the country with the most exchanges, the volume of transactions accounts for only one percent of the world.

Clear regulation is more popular

Shah concluded by stating that when the cryptocurrency exchange decides where to register, the regulatory advantages of the local cryptocurrency industry will be one of the main factors considered by the cryptocurrency exchange. She added that to attract exchange registration, the specific regulatory framework does not have to be loose, but be clear, because it means that the exchange “knows what to expect” and can “plan for the future”.

“Supervision has often become a factor that attracts exchanges to decide when registering in a certain place, because in this way, the exchange can have laws and regulations that can be followed when dealing with digital tokens, customer assets, anti-money laundering policies and taxes. Regulatory certainty It’s all attractive to trade because they can plan for the future and know what will happen, and the low tax rate is also an advantage.”

This statement is very consistent with Malta’s experience, because the government of Malta has been actively providing a legal framework for blockchain technology.

Just last week, well-known industry media Finance Magnates reported that the Maltese Cabinet passed three cryptocurrency related bills. It is headed by the Virtual Financial Assets Act, which sets up a cryptocurrency and ICO regulatory framework, and has received widespread attention from the cryptocurrency industry. The other two bills are the Malta Digital Innovation Supervision Act and the Technology Arrangement and Services Act.

Shah said in a report sent to customers that “Malta has a large number of legally operated cryptocurrency transactions.”

Morgan Stanley’s research shows that Malta’s well-thought-out legal framework has now achieved the desired results. Actively building a regulatory framework or will further strengthen Malta’s leading position as an island in the blockchain.

Author: Marko Vidrih

@cryptomarks