NASSAU, The Bahamas – On the heels of the presentation of a White Paper on venturing into the business of digital assets by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Hon. Philip Davis in the House of Assembly on Wednesday, 20th April, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Senator the Hon. Ryan Pinder foreshadows the country as a leading hub for the new technology.
While speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, 21st April, 2022 Senator Pinder said that the opportunities are endless and given the expertise that exists in the financial services sector, success can be leveraged to create a hub in the country.
“From the first week of this administration, we have been determined to build a framework that would allow us not just to participate but to lead in this innovative industry. At the same time, and as with any new industry, particularly one that’s changing so quickly, it’s important to protect our reputation and to protect consumers, so we know that getting our policies and regulations right matters enormously to setting ourselves up for success and to protect the jurisdiction,” he said. Senator Pinder stressed, however, that the policies noted in the paper are designed to encourage growth while keeping ‘bad’ actors out.
Additionally, he said that as the paper was being developed, the government was very focused on the policy goal of ensuring that as the industry thrives, there would be opportunities for Bahamians to participate both as consumers and investors.
Senator Pinder explained how blockchain technology works and gave an overview of how it would underpin the growth of the industry.
“Blockchain is an open distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties,”he said. “It creates a record that is encrypted end-to-end and cannot be altered, providing the security which makes crypto currencies viable. Blockchain has the potential to revolutionize financial markets and be a material player in the evolution of the financial services industry and development of financial technology business solutions. We don’t want The Bahamas on the out of this revolution looking in. We know we can make major contributions to this industry and we believe we can become a digital hub and leader in the international financial technology solutions industry.”
