Malta Regulator Seeks Feedback on Bringing DeFi Under MiCA

Malta's financial regulator is exploring ways to bring decentralized finance (DeFi) under its regulatory framework, specifically the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has published a discussion paper seeking feedback on how to address DeFi's grey area status within MiCA.

According to the MFSA, many DeFi projects retain centralized features such as administrator keys, governance concentration, and control over user-facing interfaces, which raises questions about whether decentralization should be viewed as a spectrum rather than a binary concept. The regulator is also considering developing a standardized framework to determine when a protocol falls outside MiCA's scope.

The discussion paper also touches on potential legal structures for DeFi projects, including decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and segregated cell companies. Additionally, the MFSA examines guardian agents as mechanisms that monitor, evaluate, and constrain the behavior of other autonomous systems to ensure compliance with predefined objectives and risk tolerances.