Malta’s financial watchdog issues warning against two crypto exchanges

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has recently issued an alert about two crypto exchanges that aren’t licensed and regulated to operate in the country. However, the exchanges - COINMALEX and Crypto Foxtrades - claim that they are regulated and licensed, as per the financial watchdog.

Crypto Foxtrades claimed that they had the “Category 3 Investment Services” provider from the Maltese authorities to operate. In its public warning, MFSA clarified the following:

The MFSA wishes to alert the public, in Malta and abroad, that Crypto Foxtrades is NOT a Maltese registered Company NOR licenced or otherwise authorised by the MFSA to provide the service of an exchange or other financial services which are required to be licenced or otherwise authorised under Maltese law.

The MFSA further noted that the data they have about COINMALEX suggests that it's a scheme of “dubious nature.” On its website, the exchange claims to offer high-quality trust assets management through crypto trading.

 MFSA advises users the following:

The public should therefore refrain from undertaking any business or transactions with the above-mentioned entity.

In February, MFSA had said that Binance has never been licensed to operate in the country. In response to this, Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao had said that the exchange “has several regulated entities around the world, either operated by our partners or by Binance.com directly.”

According to a Cointelegraph report, Malta’s Junior Minister for Financial Services and Digital Economy, BartoloClayton said:

This therefore DOES NOT mean that the Government has in some way or another introduced a harsher or more stringent stance towards cryptos, but merely an authority stating facts. On the contrary, the Government of Malta is committed to consolidate blockchain together with other niche sectors.