Bittrex to Open New EU-Regulated Exchange in Malta

Bittrex International, the Maltese branch of American cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex, has announced the launch of a new trading platform.

The venture was previously known as Bittrex Malta.

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Tokens approved quickly

According to the announcement, the key feature of the platform will be a “streamlined token approval process, which can be completed within weeks instead of months.” Candidates will have to fill out a ‘basic listing form’, and then the item will be considered by a team. This team must seek counsel from a Maltese law firm in order to ascertain if the token is compliant with local law.

Malta became the first country to enact complete cryptocurrency legislation in July 2018 with the passage of the Malta Virtual Financial Assets Act.

In comparison with the new exchange, the original Bittrex conducts a preliminary and full review of all tokens, and can only accept a coin if it is suited for operation in the US.

Bittrex CEO Bill Shihara said: “We are committed to being a driving force in the blockchain revolution by increasing adoption of this innovative technology around the world… [the] more efficient token listing process, combined with our reliable, secure and advanced trading platform technology, will make it easy to quickly feature the newest, most innovative blockchain projects for our international partners and customers.”

Borders apply

Bittrex International is not available for US citizens. In addition to this, users of the this exchange will have access to tokens which are not available on the original Bittrex.

In September 2018, Bittrex (original) purchased a ten percent stake in Palladium, a Maltese blockchain company which shares a CEO with two major Maltese financial institutions. One of these companies plans to purchase a 49 percent share in a Maltese bank part-owned by that country’s government.

The exchange has handled $41.4 million worth of transactions in the last 24 hours, according to coinmarketcap.com. It is based in Seattle and was created in 2013 by former employees of Microsoft. It is not available in countries which are under US embargo.

In June 2018 it signed with Signature Bank of New York, a partnership which allowed it to start listing US dollars.