Bahamas to Regulate Cryptocurrency and Token Sale

Bahamas plans to introduce strong regulations for token and cryptocurrency sales, intending to make the country a better place for digital currency and blockchain businesses. The Securities Commission officially filed a draft of the bill back in March seeking to regulate token offerings that are not considered securities.

Bahamas is not the first island country to show interest in cryptocurrencies or introduce such bills. Back in June last year, Malta through its Financial Services Authority ( MFSA), passed 3 laws that enables the issuance and trade of digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple, etc., within its borders, and this has attracted big exchanges such as Binance to take its services there.

In Gibraltar, there is an ongoing legislation seeking for enabling the digital assets to be issued and traded as well. Also, Bermuda, passed a law that enables the schemes doing or dealing with ICOs to ask for endorsement from the Bahama’s ministry of finance. 

Registering a Token Project 

It’s more likely that particular cryptos characterizing equity shares should be exempted from the nation’s securities law, nonetheless, the rules and regulations for this are still in the pipeline. 

As per the bill, the novel rules and regulations will work on all token issuers, cryptocurrency exchanges platforms, wallet operators/providers, and any party facilitating an ICO. The companies are encouraged to get enough insurance coverage before starting the project.  

During the registration process, the firm will be required to bring a comprehensive financial statement particularly of the token issuance, that contains the technology of the venture, scalability, risks associated to AML & CFT rules and regulations, supremacy and governance, thus assisting the Bahama’s watchdogs to assess the viability of the venture. Any company that tries or violates the law shall pay a fine of around $500 thousand or serve a maximum of 5 to 10 years behind bars.