The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has once again come out and slammed the crypto community. In its latest announcement, it denied that is has ever issued a permit for firms to offer crypto trading in the country and that citizens should stay away from cryptos. It went on to point out that it was the only regulatory authority that has the ability to hand out permits for money exchange businesses and money remittance services within the country. The Maldives is just one of a growing list of countries that has taken a similar anti-crypto stance in the past few weeks.
Social Media Ads Causing a Storm
The MMA was first alerted to this “issue” through adverts on social media for crypto trading platforms. Earlier in the year, Facebook and Google imposed a blanket ban on all crypto ads – something that probably came as welcome news to the MMA. However, back in June it decided to completely backtrack on this decision and let the crypto ads keep on rolling – Zuckerberg clearly missed the money.
While under the new advertising rules certain things are not permitted, crypto exchanges can advertise their business. This means that any Maldivians using Facebook could by chance stumble across these ads – anyway, what’s wrong with a bit of crypto trading?
More Countries Joining the Anti-Crypto Movement
Around the globe, more countries are taking up an anti-crypto stance – something that is starting to worry the crypto world. While it has yet to impact the market severely, it is starting to take a small toll. Most notably, China has adopted a very aggressive anti-crypto stance. In August, China officially banned all commercial crypto activity and the government coerced a number of high profile firms to help carry out the crypto culling. WeChat killed several high profile crypto accounts, including one belonging to Huobi – the Chinese crypto exchange. On top of this, Baidu – the Google of China – has taken down a number of crypto related forums and has even changed its search engine ranking algorithms in a bid to wipe crypto from its results.
As more countries take up an anti-crypto stance, a handful are deciding that crypto and blockchain is the future. Malta has already passed three crypto-friendly laws and it’s even hosting the Malta Blockchain Summit in a couple of weeks. In addition to those accolades, crypto-friendly Malta has been asked to consult and provide help with Vanuatu’s new crypto legislation – highlighting the demand for crypto-friendly jurisdictions. There are a handful of crypto party poopers, and they will be left behind as the world evolves into its next phase where blockchain and crypto is an integral part of daily life.
