A collaboration between the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) and cryptocurrency exchange giant Binance was announced last June, but no such agreement is formally in place, the MSE head admitted.

The Malta Stock Exchange had announced in a press release that it had “joined forces” with Binance for the launch of the MSX FinTech Accelerator Programme.  The programme was created to help start-ups access professional business services and facilities.

News of the agreement had even made international headlines, with major cryptocurrency news site CoinTelegraph reporting about it.

However, those who started reaching out to the MSE after the announcement in June received a peculiar response. “We do not have a relationship with Binance,” the MSE said in an e-mail exchange seen by the Times of Malta.

MSE chairman Joseph Portelli admitted that no formal agreement had been signed, despite the press release, adding that the two sides simply had “agreed on the intent” of working with one another.

“They are abroad, so nothing has yet been formalised,” he said.

Binance will be in Malta for the upcoming Delta Summit in October. The summit is the country’s “official platform from where to promote blockchain and cryptocurrency technology” and its related business opportunities.

Nothing has yet been formalised

Mr Portelli hopes the agreement with Binance will be formalised then.

“We have no reason to believe there will not be an agreement,” he said.

The accelerator programme should be up and running by the first quarter of 2019, Mr Portelli insisted.

As programme sponsor, the MSE will then offer start-ups access to in-house accounting services and payroll, office space, state-of-the-art communication, conference rooms and a training centre.

It will also offer a mentoring scheme which will seek to match international technology and media leaders with Fintech and crypto start-ups.

Binance, which is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced last March that it would be opening an office in Malta.