Malta’s status as a haven for the crypto industry is quickly growing, as the small EU island nation has just wrapped up its DELTA summit, a three day conference on all things blockchain. The conference aimed to advertise Malta’s crypto-industry-friendly legislation, to “promote [blockchain] technology and its related business opportunities”.
Huge players in the crypto industry were in attendance at DELTA, including Binance, who recently announced their creation of the Blockchain Charity Foundation (BCF). The new foundation recently convened its first board meeting in New York City, notably while in attendance at the recent United Nations General Assembly.
BCF chief Helen Hai recently told Forbes that the Foundation wants to raise $100 million over the next year. Hai claims that blockchain technology is right for charity because it “represents a game-changing development in that it can massively reduce or even remove transaction costs for donations”. Her statements come at a time when traditional charities are facing serious criticisms of being opaque and ineffectual.
BCF has already “been offered funding from other crypto giants”, and will be “focussing on Africa as a pilot to begin” its philanthropic project, according to Hai. Binance’s “CZ” (Changpeng Zhao) will be a keynote speaker at the Blockchains for Sustainable Development conference later this month.
The TRON Foundation, also in attendance at DELTA, is reported to have pledged “a significant amount” to the newly formed BCF.
Support at the Highest Level
Malta seems to be wholly embracing the nascent crypto industry, perhaps to magnify its tiny geopolitical presence by beating the rest of the world to it. This exuberant scene draws a marked contrast with some cryptocurrency enthusiasts’ designs on Puerto Rico, which some have seen as potentially exploitative.
In a historical first, Malta’s prime minister Joseph Muscat recently dedicated part of his speech in front of the UN General Assembly to evangelize on the potential humanitarian uses of blockchain technology, and declared Malta’s new unofficial name to be “blockchain island”. The PM even went to far as to claim that cryptocurrencies are “the inevitable future of money”.
