The stunning collapse of Bahamas-based crypto exchange FTX last November hasn’t soured the country’s taste for crypto.
Speaking to audiences at CoinDesk’s annual Consensus festival on Thursday, Prime Minister Philip Davis said his country had not lost its “zeal for being at the forefront of the digital assets industry,” despite FTX’s failure and alleged fraud. He also lauded the strength of the Bahamas’ recently-overhauled regulatory framework.
Davis pushed back against widespread sentiments that FTX’s alleged fraud went undiscovered for so long due to lax regulations in the Bahamas. Davis said that the “events which led to the collapse of FTX” had nothing to do with Bahamian laws – and any assertion to the contrary was “inconsistent with the facts.”
In fact, Davis said that, while the collapse of FTX was a disappointment and a “shock,” he wouldn’t change the past.
“I don’t think we would have done anything different than we did,” Davis said, when asked whether he felt he had been tricked by former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. “[Sam Bankman-Fried] put my jurisdiction on the map.”
Davis said the country’s new crypto regulations, the DARE act, seeks to provide regulatory clarity to crypto companies, which he hopes will bring more companies to the island nation.
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“When it comes to the digital assets sector, we are open for business,” Davis said. “If you are looking for a jurisdiction where you can confidently invest, look no further than the Bahamas.”
