 Mr. Speaker, I beg to be said for a second within the bill in short entitled Virtual Assets Bill. Mr. Speaker, the bill for consideration, the Virtual Assets Bill, seeks to provide for the regulation and supervision of a virtual asset business of the virtual asset business in the Eastern Caribbean currency union and will introduce a licensing regime to be overseen by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in Senusha, the FSRA Mr. Speaker. The new, this bill Mr. Speaker seeks to strengthen the regulatory framework in the advancement of virtual asset business. Virtual asset business includes the transfer of a virtual asset whether or not for value and covers the instances where the virtual assets are accepted as a form of payment for product or service from a vendor. As such, a virtual asset is defined as a digital representation of value that can be traded or transferred digitally and can be used for making payments to investments. However, these do not include the digital representations of the fiat currency such as the Eastern Caribbean central bank ECDB's DeCache. A different Mr. Speaker between the fiat currency of the ECCU which is called DeCache and the virtual asset. A virtual asset is a broader and more expansive notion Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in recent years there has been an increase and an evolving of innovative measures used for the swift transfer of virtual assets. The most common example of these virtual assets being virtual currency such as Bitcoin. We have also seen gaming tokens such as non-fungible tokens, NFTs and governance tokens also considered as virtual assets. Depending on the circumstances and context in which assets exist and are used Mr. Speaker. With the introduction of blockchain technology as a virtual asset just over a decade ago, we have seen an increase in its use as a payment product. Now, starting the benefits derived from the use of virtual assets without established regulations and supervision gives rise to the misuse due to the nature and their speed and reach. So even with virtual assets there needs to be some form of regulation Mr. Speaker and that is what this bill seeks to do. The bill seeks to regulate the whole virtual asset business and it is part of the requirements from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and it is what is called regional legislation in that each island has passed the virtual asset bill Mr. Speaker. So this bill seeks to license companies or individuals who are part of the virtual asset business Mr. Speaker. Any such person who immediately before the commencement of this act was offering or operating a virtual asset business may continue to operate that virtual asset for 60 days from the date of commencement. However, within 14 days and that is when the change comes. Within 30 days, within 40 days Mr. Speaker of the commencement of this act and application for a license on the section 5 of this bill. So you must apply for a license on the section 5 of this act if you are in the virtual asset business on the section 5 of the act Mr. Speaker you must apply for a license and if you win section 5 you must apply for a license and if you win section 5 you must apply for a license. And if you win section 5 you will see that it says that application for a license a person may make an application for a license of authority to operate a virtual asset business and the time frame for that Mr. Speaker is 30 days on the section, on the clause. On the clause 12-1 the requirement for a license or clause 13, clause 14. Yeah, on the clause 14 Mr. Speaker. You must apply 30 days for a license if you are in the business already on the clause 14 of the act Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this bill also make reference in section 11 to a person of a residence office outside of St. Lucia appointed and having at all times in place a person who is an ordinary resident in St. Lucia to be principal representative Mr. Speaker, we are trying to avoid only somebody having just a plaque and say it's an office. Even in a virtual asset business you must have somebody working in your office, a resident working in your office even though your office, even the operation from outside. The resident you must have a resident person in your office so that they can answer all the queries etc. Mr. Speaker. Section 12 Mr. Speaker that a license shall place a licensee that's a body for a virtual asset business shall place in escrow with a registered trust company or if an entity or person whose business is a provision of trust or custodial services access to discharge financial obligations to clients or licensee and such assets must be equivalent to a minimum of 15% of the total value of client funds held by a licensee. That's an amendment Mr. Speaker which we are going to propose in section, in section. So Mr. Speaker you must have 15% of the total value of client funds in an escrow account if you have that kind of business. That means you must have the person who is investing, the person who is investing in your asset business must be assured that you have at least 15% in an escrow that they can use that they can claim if anything goes wrong. That's in section 12. Mr. Speaker in section 13 to avoid money laundering the person who is in that business must comply with the requirements of the Money Laundering Prevention Act cap 12.20 of solution so that anybody who is in that business must comply with all the requirements of the Money Laundering the Money Laundering Prevention Act Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker in summary this bill seeks to modernize the financial environment in which we operate. We are operating in an environment of virtual assets. We are operating in an environment of Bitcoin, Bitcoin an environment of in a blockchain environment where we have fast moving assets, people doing business e-commerce, doing business on the internet so there must be some level of control and there must be some level of scrutiny. And in solution the FSRA is the body charge to do that scrutiny, perform that scrutiny under the supervision of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. Mr. Speaker this is to modernize the financial space in which we exist to modernize the environment in which we exist to create new means of new opportunities for business people and I know that many young people are interested in the virtual asset business so this bill what it seeks to do is it seeks to create an enabling environment for that business to operate but the necessary control and necessary regulations so it can operate within the ambit of the law and it can protect people who invest in that business Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker on the section 4, section 4-3 Mr. Speaker if a person continues to operate a virtual asset business the person shall within 7 days of the commencing of this act make an application for license on the section 5. So Mr. Speaker if you are already in the business when this act is passed in this parliament within 7 days must begin the application process so you can get your business registered as a virtual asset business. Mr. Speaker as I said this is again modernizing the financial space creating more opportunity but doing it in a regulated fashion and in a fashion that is accountable so we can protect the assets of the people who invest in that kind of business Mr. Speaker. I ask honourable members for the support.