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Revolution here in Fin-Tech market

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Andrew Rolle

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Investments and Securities Business Association’s (BISBA) president says Fin-Tech will “catapult” the financial services industry in 2022.

Andrew Rolle, told Tribune Business yesterday the work the Securities Commission of The Bahamas has been doing has been “excellent” alongside the Bahamas Financial Services Board through its various working group.

Together, he said, they have done a “great job” in helping to innovate the local financial services product.

Mr Rolle said: “I believe that the DARE Act - the Digital Asset and Registered Exchanges Act - will be the Act that saves the financial services sector because you will see a number of Fin-Tech firms coming in.

“We have seen what FTX Digital already, which is the third largest exchange in the world, has done to the economy in the hiring Bahamians at the senior level, they are buying property, they are renting and spending and they are one of several Fin-Tech firms that will come to The Bahamas.”

When pressed on whether any other firms are about to enter the Bahamian market, Mr Rolle did not disclose as a few of them are “pending approval” but confirmed he is presently engaged with one now and it will be announced in the near future.

“There is another Bahamian Fin-Tech group that has gotten into the space and they are moving at full speed,” he said.

“So, the year ended well. I think we have seen the beginning of how the industry will be staked out with the emergence of Fin-Tech and private investment firms that will really catapult the Bahamian economy especially from the financial services sector in 2022. ”

Mr Rolle is guarded, however, on best practice for the industry regarding Fin-Tech like cryptocurrency, but sees it as the successor to fiat currency. He added: “The volatility of cryptocurrency and their value will continue to fluctuate because we haven’t found a mechanism with any degree of certainty to identify the fundamentals of them. The way we will value them has yet to be determined. We cannot use the old way of valuing stocks or bonds the same way you would value a digital asset.

“It’s very embryonic and it is still in its formation stages and only through time we will be able to really evaluate them. You can ignore it to your peril, but if you have $10 to invest, I think you should put $1 into a digital asset.”

Arguing that criticism against digital assets are unfounded and time will bear out the value of the industry, he pointed to how back in the 1990s the internet was seen as a “strange device” that would never fully be integrated into the world economy the way it has been.

“People laughed at the internet, now everyone is on the internet. You can’t do business unless it is on the internet,” he said.

“So, we have revolutionized the way we communicated by emails and by other forms and cellular phones and what not. We have revolutionized the way we travel, so why is it we can’t revolutionize the way we look at money?”

Comments

ThisIsOurs 2 years, 12 months ago

"Arguing that criticism against digital assets are unfounded"

Untrue. Instead of saying the criticisms are unfounded, launch the ciubter argument because the criticisms are very well founded.

The tokens cant easily be converted to cash, 2.they are based on nothing, 3.accounts have been hacked consistently and 4.cryptocurrencues are frequently used to hide illegal transactions. These are facts.

Just because something makes money it doesn't make it a "good" thing. We are so blinded by money. Sell a vote for money, cover up crimes for money, sell our name for money, sell our citizenship for money. Nygard find safe haven here for decades. And in all that time the police couldnt find one thing he did wrong, now a US court has agreed there's sufficient evidence to at least send him to trial for abuses against young women.

LastManStanding 2 years, 12 months ago

In response to some of your criticisms of crypto :

1.) They can be coverted to cash with proper ATMs

2.) Fiat currency is backed with nothing. Bitcoin, for example, is backed with limited supply that becomes progressively harder to obtain (mine). You could mine Bitcoin from your GPU in the old days, you now need a dedicated miner to do so profitably.

3.) Same criticism applies to credit cards and online bank accounts

4.) Cash is just as hard to trace, and can be laundered just as easy. How many Bahamian businessmen today have their hands dirty from drug money in the 80s, or gambling money today?

Maximilianotto 2 years, 12 months ago

Crypto will come and go, blockchain will stay, too sophisticated for any local employment. Jobs will be created for US and Indian programmers - zero Bahamian pool of these professionals available. What’s left is the usual service employees equivalent to 99% grade „D“. And most programmers will work remotely anyway. So what’s left? Headline announcements forgotten tomorrow…next headline waiting….banking on poor memories of the readers if any at all. Time for return of The Punch.

Maximilianotto 2 years, 12 months ago

Typo - only 90% grade „D“ the rest is lawyers.

Proguing 2 years, 12 months ago

When are we going to see a Bahamian UBER?

Bahamas2022 2 years, 12 months ago

So much naïveté? What else can these 90% grade D population contribute? First educate them - then they’ll chase away these parties. The cryptocurrencies are backed by nothing except cheap talk of incompetent people.

LastManStanding 2 years, 12 months ago

Crypto is here to stay whether people like that or not. You have to view it as an investment and be willing to ride the waves. Buy low, sell high. It is the stock market with a much quicker turnover cycle. You can even mine a coin like Ethereum from your GPU profitably. No reason not to take part.

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