Malta regulator issues DeFi paper to gather views after MiCA rollout

Malta’s financial regulator has opened a discussion on decentralized finance, seeking stakeholder feedback as it examines how DeFi governance, accountability and risk controls could fit within existing and evolving European rules. The Malta Financial Services Authority’s Discussion Paper on Decentralised Finance, reference number 03-2026, was published on June 12 and is open for consultation until July 10, 2026. The paper explores decentralized autonomous organizations, software-based organisational models, segregated cell structures, account abstraction and the potential role of Guardian Agents in managing protocol-level risk. It also considers how DeFi should be understood when automated systems and human governance overlap, and how those models may interact with MiCA, the European Union’s crypto framework. The consultation is not a final rulebook, but a policy exercise that highlights growing regulatory focus on governance, responsibility, user protection, operational risk and market integrity in decentralized systems.