Bermuda Moves to Next Phase of On-Chain Economy Initiative

Bermuda is accelerating its effort to make stablecoins a part of everyday commerce, Bermuda Premier David Burt said Wednesday (May 6).

Speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami 2026, Burt said the country plans to do another airdrop of USDC stablecoin this year and to onboard merchants that can accept digital payments, CoinDesk reported Wednesday.

Bermuda announced its “on-chain economy” initiative in January and aims to build a payment infrastructure that will provide an alternative for small businesses that face high transaction fees on traditional card networks and banking rails as well as limited access to financial apps, according to the report.

Burt said Wednesday that even before the launch of this initiative, Bermuda was building a digital asset framework through its Digital Asset Business Act, and the Bermuda Monetary Authority was working with firms on issues related to digital assets.

“You cannot regulate out failure,” Burt said, per the report. “But you can put in place the items which allow responsible innovation to happen.”

In a Tuesday (May 5) press release issued by the government of Bermuda, announcing that Burt would participate in Consensus 2026, the government said Bermuda aims to be the leading jurisdiction for regulated digital assets and financial innovation.

Burt said in the release that Bermuda’s participation in the event “underscores our commitment to building the world’s first fully on-chain national economy.”

“Since announcing this initiative at Davos in January, we have been working closely with leading digital asset companies, including Circle and Coinbase, to help us execute this vision,” Burt said.

When Burt, Circle and Coinbase announced the initiative in a January press release, they said it would build on an existing partnership in which the government of Bermuda and the two companies helped Bermudian businesses begin accepting digital payments and financial institutions expand their use of stablecoins and tokenized finance.

They said that under the initiative launched in January, the government and the two digital finance companies will help government agencies begin piloting stablecoin-based payments, financial institutions integrate tokenization tools, and residents increase their digital literacy.

Bermuda announced in 2019 that it had begun accepting U.S. dollar-backed digital currencies for the payment of government taxes, fees and services.