Another Top-5 Cryptocurrency Exchange Plots Move to Malta’s ‘Blockchain Island’

Another day passes by and although August is a traditionally slow month in the business and finance circles, Malta does not seem to be resting on its laurels at all. After several announcements regarding cryptocurrency exchanges and crypto banks, we now have the announcement coming that ZB.com, the world’s fith-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, is setting up shop on the sunny Blockchain Island.

ZB.com will set up its operations in Europe with the launch of a new exchange in Malta. The company, which is the world’s fifth-largest cryptocurrency exchange by traded value, will open an office in St Julian’s, a bustling business centre in the heart of Malta. This latest announcement follows those by Binance, OKEx and DQR, who have also opened offices on the island.

Parliamentary Secretary for Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri also tweeted about the announcement and told CCN that this was another link in the chain for Malta to cement its leading position in the cryptocurrency space.

The company will initially start out as a crypto-to-crypto exchange and will eventually look to offer fiat-to-crypto trading pairs through its new platform based out of the European island nation. This is the third exchange that is coming up with this proposition, after Binance and Bitbay.

“Malta is perhaps the world’s most progressive and forward-thinking nation in DLT, crypto and fintech, and we are very excited to be part of the Blockchain Island. We are confident we will be able to announce our live operations soon,” co-founder Jimmy Zhao said.

Other countries appear to be hesitant in the crypto space with several stalling on their regulation and implementation of crypto and blockchain companies. However, this does not seem to be the case in Malta, where the Virtual Financial Assets Act and two other crypto bills have sailed through the parliament. The bills are currently undergoing a consultation process, so there is still no tangible exchange which has started up yet since the blockchain laws will not come into effect until Oct. 1.

Zhao said he had recently been invited to Malta by his local partners and met with the Maltese government to discuss their crypto exchange operations. “You quickly realize Malta’s commitment to building and supporting the crypto ecosystem,” he added.

ZB.com regularly ranks among the five largest cryptocurrency exchanges in terms of daily trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap, trading an average of about $400m daily. The proprietary technology behind ZB.com also supports several other top-tier exchanges such as EXX.com.

ZB.com is strictly a cryptocurrency exchange and does not offer any other type of tradeable assets. That being said, there are various markets in which these cryptocurrencies can be traded. For instance, traders can exchange cryptocurrencies against QCash (QC), tether (USDT), and bitcoin (BTC).

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News from https://www.ccn.com/another-top-5-cryptocurrency-exchange-plots-move-to-maltas-blockchain-island/