Maltese parliamentary opposition member Jason Azzopardi accused the government of spending € 3 million on a blockchain island initiative that was unsuccessful.
How
informs Local Times of Malta, Jason Azzopardi has accused the Maltese authorities of misusing the state budget to develop blockchain startups. Azzopardi believes that the government’s initiative to develop this technology in the country was “doomed to failure.” The MP called these costs inexpedient and quoted the Minister of Finance of Malta Clyde Caruana (Clyde Caruana) that “the island of the blockchain” is just “buzzword”.
According to Azzopardi, the low level of regulation of cryptocurrencies in Malta has led the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) to gray-list the state. In 2018, Malta began to actively shape the image of a country friendly to cryptocurrencies. The state gave fintech companies coming to the island a year to obtain a license. During this period, Azzopardi said, the country turned into the “Wild West” due to a surge in the number of high-risk transactions made on unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges.
Last year, the Maltese authorities recognized that Malta is no longer a “blockchain island”, so it will not focus on the development of this latest technology, but will focus on the digital economy as a whole. The MP added that due to the inclusion of Malta in the “gray list” of the FATF, the entire population of the island was affected. The government has put the country in a situation where foreign investors do not want to expand their presence in Malta, and local youth do not see a future here.
“The government has lost its sense of conscience. It could use 3 million euros not to develop the blockchain, but to help the elderly who are trying to make ends meet, ”said Azzopardi.
However, the Minister of Economy of Malta, Silvio Schembri (Silvio Schembri) disagreed with the statements of Azzopardi and said that he was “out of touch with reality.” According to Schembri, the country now has a record low unemployment rate, despite the crisis caused by the pandemic. Plus, Azzopardi still hasn’t figured out the difference between blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
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