The Malta cryptocurrency license process has been the subject of a meticulous examination of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the primary surveillance organization in Europe supervising the markets in the regulation of crypto-sets (Mica).
ESMA published an examination on the authorization process for cryptographic asset service providers (CASPS) by the Malta Authority of Malta (MFSA) on Thursday, highlighting several deficits and offering a set of recommendations.
Although he said that the MFSA met certain expectations in the configuration and supervision staff, the EU’s guard dog said that the Maltese authorities only responded to partially expectations in the authorization process of an unnamed Casp.
Following the examination, the ad hoc examination committee of ESMA (PRC) recommended that the MFSA “assesses the important problems which were still in the process of the date of authorization or which were not considerably examined at the authorization stadium”.
Malta Review launched in April
The report occurs a year after the entry into force of the mica framework on June 29, 2024, becoming an important step in the EU approach to regulate digital assets.
Given that the Mica aims to provide a unified and coherent legal framework for the crypto in the EU, the regulator stressed that the Authorization approach of Mica applies to all the competent national authorities (ANC).
In December 2024, the European Banking Authority (BOS) supervisors’ board, the main decision -making body of the agency, agreed to adopt a coordinated approach for CASPS authorizations.
“After a series of events, the ESMA BOS decided, in April 2025, to launch an exam by peers on the authorization and early supervision of a CASP by the Malta Financial Services Authority,” noted the report, adding:
“Although the peer review chises an NCA, it aims to promote the convergence of supervision and to improve the supervision practices of all the ANC, at a time when the consistency between the ANC in the authorization and the definition of supervision expectations is essential.”
MFSA authorization is lower than expectations
The ESMA RPC, the committee that led the peer examination process in the MFSA, reported that the MFSA built a “good level of expertise in this sector and had sufficient supervision resources for authorizations and supervision of CASP”.
The PRC exam concerned three main areas: parameters and supervision resources, the authorization process and the supervision examination and the use of adequate powers.
While fully meeting the requirements of the supervision parameters and largely meeting the rules for examining the supervision, the report indicates that the MFSA “met partially expectations” only for “the authorization of the specific CASP”.
The MFSA of Malta “must closely monitor the growth of authorization applications” and identify and need to adjust the supervision practices in a timely manner, said the PRC.
In relation: Bybit, OKX extends crypto services in Europe under mica
He reiterated that all the EU state NCA must consider this problem and strictly monitor the standards:
“Due to the novelty and nature of this type of entities as well as the risks inherent in their business model, the RPC recommends to all the ANC, currently allowing cases, to pay particular attention to certain aspects of the authorization.”
Four MFA CASPS MFSA CASPS
Since ESMA has not disclosed the name of the CASP in question of the faux pas of the authorization of the MFSA, it is not clear if the recommendation of the PRC to assess the problem would have an impact on one of the licenses issued.
“It is difficult to comment without knowing exactly what were not resolved problems,” said Cointelegraph, Xreg’s advisory partner, Nathan Catania.
“I would not expect any revocation or reassessment on the basis of the report,” he said.
According to the MFSA register of license -under Caps operating under Mica, there are currently four recorded companies: BP23, trading as Bitpanda; Foris Dax, trading under the name of Crypto.com; Okcoin Europe, trading under the name of OKX; and Zillion Bits, trading under the name of ZBX.
In April, Malta’s financial intelligence analysis unit imposed a fine of Okcoin Europe of $ 1.2 million after detecting certain violations dating from 2023. The penalty occurred shortly after the MFSA granted a Micax license to OKX in January 2025.
Cointelegraph approached ESMA and MFSA for comments concerning the potential impact of the journal on companies approved in Mica in Malta, but did not receive any response by publication.
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