Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/920426
maltatoday SUNDAY 31 DECEMBER 2017 12 News COURT NOTICE The Registrar of Civil Courts and Tribunals informs that the Civil Court, First Hall ordered the following sales by auction: Date Time Judicial Sale No Place Items 10 th January 2018 10.30am 23/17-JGL J.Zammit Limited C 37945 vs Rodney Vella 370079M 55 J&J Boatyard, Ta' Ghadmija, Imqabba Vehicle of the make Alfa Romeo with the registration number CUT 156. 10 th January 2018 11.30am 32/17-AZ J.Zammit Limited C 37945 vs Daniel Grixti 432889M 3 'St.James Court', Triq Is- Sienja, Attard Vehicle of the make Renault Megane with the registration number JBU 081 silver in colour. 15 th January 2018 12.00pm 33/17-EM Ian Pace 321362M vs Rose Lehner 12497A 16 Second Floor , Courts of Justice, Triq ir- Repubblika Valletta Boat named 'M.V. San Carlos I' with the registration number seven two seven six (7276) 17 th January 2018 10.00am 31/17-EM E.Grech Cristal Bath Limited C13298 vs George Galea 41573M 17, Triq Id-Dejqa, Valletta Three sofas (2 seater), sofa (3 seater), Television cabinet black in colour, two (2) Samsung TFT, table, two (2) side tables, lamp black in colour, three (3) cabinets black in colour, two (2) frames , desk, computer of the make Apple and other various items. 22 th January 2018 19/17 HSBC Bank Malta plc C3177 vs MaryMicallef 188442M HSBC Bank Malta Plc 80, Triq Il-Mitħna, Qormi 880.666 unit fil-World Selection 2 Class ACH EUR. 57.6616 unit fl- International Bond Fund EUR (Accumulator). 875.106 unit fil-World Selection 1 Class ACH EUR. 39.3337 unit fil-HSBC Malta Bond Fund Accumulator. 24 th January 2018 20/17 - AZ Boat Care Trading C3177 vs Dr Benjamin Valenzia bħala kuratur. Berth 41, Portomaso Marina, Portomaso, San Ġiljan Sailing yacht named 'WANDU' registered in Italy by the international nominativ IY 4414 with the registration number 5BA 29-D. 31 th January 2018 21/17 - EM J.Zammit Limited C 37945 vs Muaid Elgusbi et 180380M 55 J&J Boatyard, Ta' Ghadmija, Imqabba Vehicle of the make Citroen C2 blue in colour with the registration number ABN 462. 31 th January 2018 38/17 - EGL J.Zammit Limited C 37945 vs Richard Azzopardi et. 870M 55 J&J Boatyard, Ta' Ghadmija, Imqabba Vehicle of the make Nissan grey in colour with the registration number KBR104 Further details can be obtained from the website: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/courtservices/JudicialSales/search.aspx The bidders taking part in the auction must present their identity card Rudolph Marmara' For the Registrar Civil Courts and Tribunals In 2018 • Doubling down on crypto-currency Malta gets serious on bitcoin Cyrptocurrency and Blockchain are part and parcel of the Labour government playbook when it comes to financial services IN April Prime Minister Joseph Muscat revealed that his Cabinet had approved a first draft of a na- tional strategy to promote Block- chain and announced that Malta would become one of the first countries in the world to embrace Blockchain, promising public con- sultation in the near future. "This is not just about Bitcoin, and I also look forward to seeing Blockchain technology imple- mented in the Lands Registry and the national health registries," he said at the time. "Malta can be a global trailblazer in this regard." The Malta Gaming Author- ity has also recently reiterated its commitment to cryptocurrencies. In a recent white paper, the MGA suggested an overhaul of existing legislation to reduce the financial and regulatory burden on iGam- ing operators who currently re- quire multiple licences. It commissioned a study to as- sist in the development of a legal framework, to bring itself in line with the 4th Anti-Money Laun- dering Directive, which is also currently being revised to include further provisions specific to cryp- to-currencies. Parliamentary Secretary for Fi- nancial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri told this newspaper that Malta will be the first in the world to have a regulator for the crypto- currency sector whilst the gov- ernment is working on a plan to attract Regtech and Fintech com- panies to Malta. But what is this new technology and how can it help us? Bitcoin Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that uses Blockchain technol- ogy. Whenever a Bitcoin is sent, it doesn't physically move from place to place, rather, the agree- ment about the ownership of the bitcoin, which is distributed throughout the Blockchain, is up- dated. The sender's account bal- ance is reduced and the recipient's balance goes up. At the moment, Bitcoin's ano- nymity makes it a semi-safe way to finance purchases of illicit drugs and weapons on the dark web. But some argue that aside from the anonymity aspect, it's hard to see what problem Bitcoin actually solves. Silvio Schembri said that while the cryptocurrency market pre- sents certain risks, it also offers opportunities for growth for our financial and technology sector. "The Government of Malta is aware that regulators across the globe have issued warnings on the risks of failure and investor det- riment that may result from the field of business. In this regard, to address these concerns, we want this sector to grow in Malta within a regulated and supervised envi- ronment that achieves the inves- tor protection, market integrity and financial stability objectives of regulation." Schembri continued to say that in line with government policy, the MFSA has been for the past months working on establishing a regulatory framework for this purpose. A discussion paper was issued by the Authority on the 30 November 2017, and relevant stakeholders are being encour- aged to give their feedback to the MFSA by 11 January 2018. Blockchain The same does not apply to the Blockchain concept that under- pins the Bitcoin system, howev- er. Blockchain is the technology behind cryptocurrencies, which however has a wider array of ap- plications. "Blockchain technology has vari- ous advantages, including disin- termediation that enables a data- base to be directly shared without a central administrator," Schem- bri said. "In line with Government policy of making public service more ef- ficient and effective, we started a process of identifying areas where blockchain can be implemented, particularly for maintaining pub- lic registers and information. In this regard, blockchain technol- ogy simplifies the management of such information and makes it easier for users to access and make use of critical public sector areas." Blockchain is basically a reliable, difficult-to-hack ledger. It is based on distributed ledger technology, which securely records informa- tion across a peer-to-peer net- work. Cryptocurrencies are the reason for which Blockchain technology was created, but are far from be- ing its only application. Bitcoin is simply the first and best-known of several hundred applications that use the Blockchain system today. The Blockchain's massive poten- tial lies in its use of disintermedia- tion and encryption. It is simply not possible for someone to tam- per with a vast public ledger, be- cause all the successive lines have been encrypted, validated and then distributed to a multitude of computers across the network. Such a system is virtually impossi- ble to hack or to lose data from be- cause it's stored in several places, simultaneously. The Maltese government recent- ly announced a pilot project allow- ing government agencies to issue educational certificates on Block- chain. All diplomas and training certifications issued by state insti- tutions, as well as documentation from the national accreditation agency, would use the emerging technology. Once the educational institu- tion issues the certification on the Blockchain, the document becomes jointly owned by the is- suing entity and the receiver - the student. This would also give for- mer students the ability to share their credentials with third parties without seeking the permission of the issuing institution first. Blockchain can also potentially replace traditional intermediaries such as bankers, notaries or tech specialists with computer code tasked with verifying that the two parties to a deal are trustworthy before approving any transactions. In the United Kingdom, the gov- ernment has implemented Block- chain-as-a-Service, empowering government agencies to experi- ment, build, and provide services, such as welfare payments, using Blockchain. Last year, the US State of Delaware used the technology for "smart contracts," which are stored on a distributed ledger, for data integrity and security reasons. MATTHEW AGIUS