By Stabroek News
Copyright stabroeknews
(Trinidad Guardian) The Government’s Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, 2025, proposes to ban the purchase, sale, exchange or transfer of cryptocurrencies (which include Bitcoin and Ethereum) until December 31, 2027 and is also seeking to impose fines of up to $5 million for anyone “engaging in unauthorised virtual asset activities.”
The legislation was tabled in the House of Representatives by Minister of Finance Davendranath Tancoo on September 12 and was on the order paper for last Friday’s sitting, but was not debated. The Bill is subject to amendment in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Bill, at clause 4 (1), states that subject to subsection 5 (b) “no person shall, as a business or in the course of a business, carry on virtual asset activities in or from within Trinidad except where authorised by the Commission.” The Commission referred to in the Bill is the T&T Securities and Exchange Commission, the statutory body that regulates securities, such as stocks, bonds and other investments.
The section states that the virtual asset activities referred to in clause 4 (2) comprise:
* The exchange between virtual assets and fiat currencies;
* The exchange between one or more forms of virtual assets ;
* The transfer of virtual assets;
* The safekeeping or administration of virtual assets or instruments enabling control over virtual assets; and
* The participation in or provision of financial services related to an offer of an issuer or sale of a virtual asset.
Clause 4 (3) of the Bill states that, notwithstanding anything in the Bill or any other written law, the T&T Securities and Exchange Commission “shall not, on or before December 31, 2027, grant any authorisation under this Act or the Securities Act to any person in respect of operating as a wallet service provider for any activity set out in clause 2.” A local cryptocurrency trader, who reqested anonymity because of fear of victimisation, agreed that the original language in the Bill proposes to ban all trading in crypto assets in, or from within, T&T until December 31, 2025.
In response to the publication of the Bill, the Fintech Association of T&T (FintechTT) launched a Virtual Assets Working Group (VAWG) last week to address concerns about the its potential impact.
