Vardan Khachatryan

I am the CEO of Fast Shift Limited, a Malta-based Electronic Money Institution authorised by the MFSA, and a fintech and blockchain executive with a decade of experience building and licensing regulated financial infrastructure across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the United States.

At Fast Shift, I am leading the build-out of a full-stack payments institution: dedicated IBANs, SEPA payments, and SWIFT connectivity, alongside card issuing and acquiring, and a forward roadmap into stablecoin issuance and on-chain settlement under Europe’s MiCA framework. The vision is to bridge traditional payment rails with digital assets in a single, fully regulated platform.

Previously, as Chief Legal Officer at Fastex, I built and licensed global fintech and blockchain infrastructures spanning the full regulatory spectrum: MiCA, VARA, and EMI frameworks. I led international teams of lawyers and compliance professionals, secured authorizations in more than 30 jurisdictions, and developed compliant ecosystems that balance innovation, transparency, and risk management. I directed licensing under MiCA (Malta) and VARA (Dubai), oversaw the launch of an Electronic Money Institution in the EU, and founded the Bahamut Foundation (Switzerland), the governance backbone of our Layer-1 blockchain. My work has also spanned DeFi, RWA tokenization, and stablecoin development, all within regulated environments.

Collaboration with policymakers and regulators is central to how I work. I have engaged directly with VARA, MFSA, DFSA, SEC, CFTC, and SFC, contributing to the dialogue shaping the next generation of digital finance regulation.

I also lecture on Blockchain and Crypto Law at the American University of Armenia, where I teach how regulation and innovation can evolve together.

Find out more about me on LinkedIn and at 3Blocks.

What I cover

• Whether each prediction market app is legal in each US state
• State availability and the court cases behind it
• Regulator orders, cease-and-desist letters and federal rulings
• Where Polymarket and Kalshi are blocked around the world

How I work

Each legal page links the court filings, regulator orders and laws it relies on, listed under Sources at the end. The status box near the top is built from the same dated records, so it changes when a ruling does. The case tracker lists the cases behind them, newest first.

Nothing on these pages is legal advice. CoinStats may earn a commission on some links, and no app pays for its position.

Articles by Vardan Khachatryan