The Virtual Financial Assets Act, Chapter 590 of the Laws of Malta, was Malta’s dedicated statutory framework for initial virtual financial asset offerings, VFA services, and the supervision of virtual financial assets. It entered into force on Nov. 1, 2018 as Act XXX of 2018 and, as of July 22, 2026, should be treated as repealed: Act XXXVI of 2024 provided for Chapter 590 to be repealed on July 3, 2026 following Malta’s transition to the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets framework and Malta’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Act, Chapter 647.
What the Virtual Financial Assets Act covered
The Act was designed to regulate initial VFA offerings and virtual financial assets, with the Malta Financial Services Authority acting as the competent authority. In practical terms, the regime sat between Malta’s existing financial-services laws and the EU crypto-asset framework that later replaced it. It addressed offers made in or from Malta, admission of virtual financial assets to trading on a DLT exchange, licensing of VFA service providers, market-abuse controls, regulatory powers, auditor duties, appeals and sanctions.
A central perimeter tool was the Financial Instrument Test. MFSA materials describe the test as a way to determine whether a DLT asset fell under existing EU and Maltese financial-services law, under the VFA Act, or outside those regimes. The test applied to issuers offering DLT assets to the public or seeking admission to a DLT exchange in or from Malta, and to persons providing services involving DLT assets whose classification had not yet been determined.
Key provisions of Chapter 590
- White-paper regime. The original framework required an issuer offering a virtual financial asset to the public in or from Malta, or seeking admission to trading on a DLT exchange, to draw up and register a white paper meeting statutory content requirements. The schedule covered issuer information, project details, risk factors, token features, wallets, cybersecurity safeguards, use of proceeds, transfer restrictions and refund mechanisms.
- VFA services licensing. A person could not provide, or hold itself out as providing, a VFA service in or from Malta unless it held a valid licence granted by the competent authority. The framework covered service categories such as reception and transmission of orders, execution, dealing on own account, portfolio management, custody or nominee services, investment advice, placing of VFAs, operation of a VFA exchange and transfers.
- Market abuse and disclosure controls. The Act included offences for insider dealing, unlawful disclosure of inside information and market manipulation in relation to virtual financial assets admitted, or requested to be admitted, to trading on a VFA exchange. VFA exchanges also had to maintain systems to monitor and report suspected market abuse.
- MFSA supervisory powers. The competent authority could require information, review determinations, request documentation, suspend or prohibit offerings, suspend trading, restrict advertisements and impose administrative penalties or other measures, subject to the statutory appeal framework.
MiCA transition and repeal
Malta amended Chapter 590 in 2024 to align its domestic regime with Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets. MFSA described the April 2024 amendments as removing the VFA Agent role, shifting relevant requirements to issuers and VFA service providers, carving asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens out of the VFA regime, and introducing transition provisions for MiCA implementation. MFSA also stated that new Article 14 VFA service applications had to be submitted by Aug. 1, 2024.
Act XXXVI of 2024 then completed the statutory transition. It provided that existing VFA service providers licensed on Dec. 30, 2024 could continue under the VFA Act until July 1, 2026, or until they were granted or refused authorisation under Article 63 of MiCA, whichever came first. It also provided for VFA licences to cancel on July 2, 2026 or upon the MiCA decision, and for the VFA Act itself to be repealed on July 3, 2026.
Status for CryptoSlate readers
The appropriate Crypto Laws status term is Repealed. Chapter 590 remains relevant as a historical Maltese crypto-law reference for pre-MiCA offerings, licence records, MFSA decisions and transitional matters. Current Maltese crypto-asset supervision should be cross-linked to the Markets in Crypto-Assets Act, Chapter 647, and the EU MiCA Regulation rather than treated as a standalone VFA regime.
