NASSAU, BAHAMAS —The Securities Commission is working to build capacity and is undergoing a needs assessment to facilitate the regulatory oversight of the “big players” this nation will attract in the digital assets space, its top executive said yesterday.
Christina Rolle, the Commission’s executive director while speaking at a Bahamas Think Tank luncheon on the Current and Future State of Banking in The Bahamas said that the Commission is looking to add more staff but is also in need of additional space.
Furthermore, Rolle said that the regulator is also concerned over its capacity to regulate the digital assets industry which the government is keen on seeing emerge in this nation.
“This is soothing we are very concerned about as well because in taking on these big players coming here we recognize that we have to be ready for them,” she said.
“We are currently looking at about four service providers in terms of technology service providers that provide supervisory technology solutions that will help us monitor the space. We will probably make a decision on those in a matter of weeks. We are constantly training our staff and beefing up their understanding of the space. We are currently undergoing a needs assessment to determine where there are gaps so we intend to be ready for this space,” said Rolle.
Rolle noted that this nation has been able to emerge as a leader in the regulation of digital assets due to its size.
“Our size allows us to be much more nimble. If you are following politics in the US you can’t imagine how difficult it would be now to get some crypto legislation through Congress. It’s impossible. I say it’s years away just based on the political tribalism controlling their legislature. We don’t face that problem in The Bahamas. We have a political directorate that listens to the technical experts, the regulators and are very progressive in terms of advancing legislation in this space,” said Rolle.
Last week Rolle said that in the wake of the crypto market crash several months ago, the regulator has made several recommendations to beef up the Digital Assets and Regulated Exchanges (DARE) Act, particularly as it relates to stablecoins.
The DARE Act, which was passed in Parliament in December 2020, facilitates the registration of digital token exchanges and the provision of services related to them. The legislation has been praised by stakeholders in the cryptocurrency space and has been credited with helping to attract FTX Digital Markets to The Bahamas.
