The Director of the University of Malta’s Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies, Dr Joshua Ellul, who is also the Chairperson of the Malta Digital Innovation Authority, has penned an open letter to EU cryptocurrency-related regulators, raising what he perceives to be a vital concern regarding cryptocurrency regulation – that is to ensure technology assurances along the way.
“Cryptocurrencies, other similar forms of tokens and related activities have inherent technological risks”, Dr Ellul noted.
Unless these risks are assessed and the necessary frameworks set up, the EU might suffer a blow to its reputation in terms of crypto-operation oversight.
Unlike traditional technology and systems, where a mistake in a transaction or bug in the data or code can be fixed, on a DLT, such errors frequently cannot be fixed, and the data cannot be reverted.
In this respect, Dr Ellul recommends performing third-party, independent system audits and an accompanying regulatory framework for ensuring tech-based assurances.
The letter can be read in its entirety online.