The government of Bermuda announced it will begin moving government payment and financial services to the Stellar network. Premier David Burt stated the move is part of Bermuda’s plan to become a “fully on-chain national economy,” aiming to address high transaction fees from legacy systems. The initiative follows a previous partnership announced with Circle and Coinbase earlier this year.
The government of Bermuda will begin moving payment and financial-services activities to the Stellar network. This action is part of its plan to become a “fully on-chain national economy.”
Speaking at the Bermuda Digital Finance Forum, Premier David Burt said the government could accept and invest in digital assets after risk assessments. Stellar separately announced Bermuda would move certain financial services onto its network in response to high fees.
“The lack of mobile money applications and reliance on legacy payments infrastructure has left Bermudians paying high payment processing fees,” said Burt. “The use of digital dollars can change that, and the Stellar network’s capacity to support public sector initiatives are what make it possible to deliver this responsibly.”
Stellar is a Layer 1 blockchain designed for fast, low-cost transactions across currencies. It powers cross-border payments and stablecoin issuance for financial institutions globally.
Burt had announced a partnership with Circle and Coinbase at the World Economic Forum in January. Bermuda has sought to be a crypto-friendly jurisdiction since passing its Digital Asset Business Act in 2018.
“This is not the government, this is the private sector leading, working in concert with the government of Bermuda to go ahead and support this ecosystem,” said Burt. The island nation’s gross domestic product was about $9 billion as of 2024.
Some companies have expanded digital asset adoption through merchants in other countries. Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit announced in April it allowed users in South Africa to pay merchants with digital assets.
