Vaibhav Kadikar, Founder & CEO, CloseCross, a decentralised prediction market platform
Delta Summit 2019 was held in Malta from the 2 to the 4 of October and has fast become a must-attend event in the highly-crowded Blockchain annual calendar since its inagural meeting in 2018. With over 10,000 registrations and a plethora of speakers and exhibiting companies it had something insightful for all areas of the blockchain stakeholder community from start-ups to investors and lawmakers to NGOs. With a wider focus on Digital Innovation, DS’19 delivered a much more holistic vision of where the world is headed.
The Maltese government, led by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, has unveiled a series of frameworks and regulations in the past to enable the Blockchain and Crypto community to flourish. This year, the government launched the Artificial Intelligence strategy made up of 70 actions to be implemented by 2022. In an exclusive quote to the CloseCross team, Prime Minister Muscat said “Delta is one of the best opportunities for our country to showcase to the world our dedication, progress, and achievements in the areas of emerging technologies. We have launched the world’s first national AI certification programme with the aim to provide users with the valuable recognition that their AI systems have been developed in an ethically aligned, transparent and socially responsible manner.”
There was a lot on offer budding start-ups with plenty of discussions focused on ethical fund-raising, best practices for ICOs and STOs and the enabling regulatory frameworks around the world that help expedite the growth of disruptive startups. Joe Portelli, the Executive Chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange said “With the Malta Stock Exchange becoming a trailblazer in digital asset financing, Malta is in the process of becoming one of the world's leading centers of excellence for everything digital."
Dr. Abdallah Kablan, the creator and leader of the Delta Summit series, said “Delta Summit started with the vision of putting Malta on the global map of Digital Innovation. Last year we focused on Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. This year we extended the focus to AI, IoT, games development, quantum computing, while still in concert with blockchain technologies to see how they combine to disrupt entire industries. We have created an event that combines intellectual stimulation with economic stimulation.” We saw this claim backed up by n the fact that DS’19 saw a good balance of established companies, start-ups, academic representations as well as lawmakers and NGOs all working together to help pull Malta forward along with the wider community using Malta as a base.
Delta Summit as an idea came about during the regulatory and law-making discussions. This was evident in the number of Maltese regulatory authorities that had a presence at the event with their senior leaders made accessible to all visitors to give first-hand assistance and advice on how Malta can help companies.
As a vision for 2020, Dr. Kablan added that he would like to consolidate the quality of the event before moving on to making it bigger and bolder. He will be keeping an eye on how the ecosystem that has been fostered over the past two years fairs ahead of the next edition of Delta Summit.
What I learned from attending DS’19 is that there is a lot of political will behind the stated intention of making Malta a significant center for digital innovation and delivering on the promise of blockchain. I was pleasantly surprised to see the seniority of the staff present at the various exhibiting regulatory bodies such as the Malta Financial Services Authority, Malta Gaming Authority, MITA, MCA, MDIA, Malta Stock Exchange and Malta Business Registry. Of all the other events I have been to, there was very little, if any, direct access to the actual regulators and the decision makers within the regulatory bodies that would sit and listen to what I, as an innovator and CEO, want to bring to the market.
Here, we found them willing to listen intently, to brainstorm on facilitating mechanisms with us and to help us agree on an aligned path to move forward. The most important thing for a budding fintech business is clarity around regulation. Sure, you still need to go through the entire process and help the regulatory authorities have access to every single piece of information and documents they need. But to know that if you follow the agreed process there is a higher chance of success given the early alignment is priceless. I can imagine that a lot of start-ups who came to DS’19 with a developed business idea left with a reinforced value proposition. We at CloseCross sure did.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.