In view of the recent legislative efforts in regulating Virtual Financial Assets ('VFA's') and the underlying technology of Distributed Ledger Technology ('DLT'), and in recognising the fact that they retain characteristics and tremendous potential which the gaming sector could benefit of, the Malta Gaming Authority ('MGA') has issued a guidance document on the use of Innovative Technology Arrangements and the acceptance of VFAs and Virtual Tokens through the implementation of a sandbox environment.
The sandbox will become operational on the 1st January 2019 for the purpose of the acceptance of VFAs and Virtual Tokens and is expected to last for a period of ten months, during which the MGA will start accepting applications for the use of DLT assets, directly or through third party service providers.
Furthermore, the MGA is also updating its Licensee Relationship Management system to allow:
- New operators to apply for approvals for the use of DLT assets as part of a new application;
- Existing licensees to apply for approvals for the use of DLT assets;
- Existing licensees participating in the sandbox environment to report VFA player liabilities through the monthly Player Funds Report. Licensees will also need to report any failed return transactions, with respect to any invalid deposits.
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