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During a heated debate on the 2026 Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill in Barbados’ Upper House this Wednesday, Senator Andrew Mallalieu delivered a stark warning against the automatic adoption of foreign regulatory frameworks, arguing that many international standards are ill-suited to the country’s unique market context and urging legislators to prioritize national sovereignty when crafting new legislation.

At the heart of Mallalieu’s criticism is the removal of a 20% ownership threshold that previously defined a beneficial owner in Barbados regulatory code. Section 21 of the proposed bill revises this definition to cover any individual that ultimately owns or controls a legal entity, a change that the senator argues would expand regulatory coverage to all stakeholders regardless of the size of their ownership stake.

“So even if you own one percent or 0.1 percent, you are now covered under this, and that is a substantial change in my reading,” Mallalieu noted. He called on the Leader of Government Business to provide a clear justification for eliminating the threshold, emphasizing that many of the new requirements included in the bill originate from international bodies rather than local needs. Instead of adopting rules purely to align with global benchmarks, he argued, Barbados must conduct a thorough assessment of whether these mandates actually fit the country’s domestic market.

Mallalieu doubled down on his call for a tailored, risk-based approach to regulation, pointing to previous missteps in Barbados’ anti-money laundering and know-your-customer rules for real estate agents as a cautionary example. He explained that the role of real estate agents in Barbados differs significantly from their counterparts in jurisdictions like the United Kingdom and the United States, where agents commonly function as escrow agents and directly handle client funds.

“In Barbados, the regulations for real estate agents are completely different to other parts of the world where they do not act as intermediaries in the sense of escrow agents. They don’t ever touch the money,” he said. The senator went on to question the mandate that requires even small, locally owned real estate agencies to collect passport information from clients, raising serious concerns about the ability of these small operations to secure sensitive personal data.

He pointed out that while large, established corporations typically have the infrastructure and resources to implement robust data protection systems, it is unreasonable to expect the same level of security from every small mom-and-pop operation across the country. Ultimately, Mallalieu reaffirmed his core message: Barbados must preserve its regulatory sovereignty and craft policies that are aligned with local economic and market conditions, rather than adopting one-size-fits-all international standards that do more harm than good.

In a landmark moment for Jamaica’s efforts to crack down on illegal gun violence, a Black Rock resident has made legal history as the first person to secure a conviction before the country’s newly launched specialized gun court.

Jerimiah Selassie Bartlett, a resident of Fernihurst in Black Rock, entered a guilty plea before Justice Douglas Frederick at the No. 2 Supreme Court on charges of unlawful possession of a .40-calibre S&W SIG pistol and seven rounds of ammunition. The charges stem from an incident that took place on January 3, 2026, when authorities seized the unregistered firearm and ammunition from Bartlett.

Bartlett was represented in court by Attorney Kyle Walkes, who stood in for lead defense counsel Safiya Moore. In a procedural move that accelerated the case timeline, Walkes formally waived the requirement for a pre-sentencing report, a document typically prepared by court services to outline the defendant’s background and circumstances for the judge prior to sentencing.

Principal State Counsel Rudolph Burnett, who is leading the prosecution for the state, is scheduled to present the full factual details of the case to the court during a hearing set for October 23.

The newly established gun court was created to address the persistent backlog of firearms-related cases across Jamaica’s judicial system, a backlog that has long frustrated law enforcement and public safety advocates pushing for swifter justice to curb rising gun crime. By streamlining procedures and dedicating judicial resources exclusively to firearms offenses, policymakers hope the specialized court will reduce case processing times and send a clear deterrent message to individuals involved in the illegal gun trade. Bartlett’s conviction marks the first major milestone in the implementation of this new judicial framework, testing the court’s ability to deliver efficient outcomes in line with its founding mandate.

On Wednesday, Opposition Senator Ryan Walters of Barbados delivered a stark warning over the proposed Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, highlighting two critical gaps that could undermine the legislation and harm Barbadian consumers seeking access to global virtual asset markets.

The proposed regulatory framework is designed to introduce a formal registration and oversight system for all entities offering virtual asset services to Barbadian residents, bringing long-missing structure to a currently unregulated space. Walters acknowledged that the bill carries tangible benefits for the island’s growing digital finance sector: mandatory registration would open new streams of government revenue, require all licensed providers to maintain an in-country representative, separate client investment funds from a provider’s operating capital, and deliver critical consumer protection that Barbadian virtual asset investors currently lack. “Consumers would get the protection, so Barbadians who are keen on that type of activity would be able to get some level of protection because it is regulated,” Walters noted in his remarks.

Despite these upside points, Walters raised pressing concerns that the legislation fails to address two core practical challenges unique to cross-border digital asset services. First, he questioned the enforceability of the new rules against providers that operate entirely outside Barbados’ borders, serving local customers exclusively through online, cross-border digital channels. Walters argued that meaningful oversight would require formal cross-jurisdictional regulatory cooperation to enforce Barbadian rules against foreign-based firms, but that this key mechanism is only referenced in ministerial remarks and not codified within the legislation itself.

“I still wonder how robust this legislation can be because generally we’re going to be dealing with a lot of foreign companies, foreign companies that operate outside of Barbados, that operate in cyberspace,” Walters said. “The government should be in a position to pick up the phone, so to speak, and maybe contact country X, or the country where this business is domiciled, where this business is regulated, and say to them that we have someone here who is popping up in the space. There has to be some function, a real way that we can deal with it, not just on paper. While the minister has referenced international cooperation, that framework is not written into the current text of the bill.

The second, more immediate risk Walters highlighted is that large international virtual asset platforms could simply exit the Barbadian market rather than absorb the costs of complying with a separate, local regulatory regime. With Barbados’ total population sitting at just 280,000 people, Walters warned that many large global platforms would calculate that the revenue from the small national market cannot offset the costs of establishing a local registered office, appointing an in-country representative, and meeting all local regulatory requirements.

Walters pointed to existing examples of small-market exclusion, noting that Barbadian creators already lack access to monetization features on major global platforms including YouTube and TikTok. He warned the same outcome could play out for virtual assets, effectively cutting off local consumers’ access to legitimate global investment options.

“Are we, in seeking to regulate providers, inadvertently restricting the ability of Barbadians to access legitimate global platforms and invest their own money at their own calculated risks?” Walters asked. He closed his remarks by emphasizing that two core questions remain unanswered in the current proposal: what concrete enforcement mechanisms exist to hold foreign-based providers accountable, and how can Barbados build required cross-border cooperation without shutting out residents who wish to participate in virtual asset markets at their own judged risk.