Is crypto legal in Bermuda? Regulation & rules (2026)

The Bermuda Monetary Authority published a refreshed Guidance Note setting out expectations and the application process for firms seeking a Digital Asset Business licence, consolidating the regime's maturation since 2018.

The BMA invited firms to a collaborative pilot testing real-time, automated supervision of decentralised finance (e.g. continuous stablecoin collateral monitoring), positioning Bermuda at the frontier of DeFi oversight.

New rules required DABA licensees holding client crypto to segregate customer assets and maintain surety bonds, trust accounts or indemnity insurance, tightening custody protections after global exchange failures.

The guidance set prudential standards for DABA-licensed stablecoin issuers, including full reserve backing in high-quality liquid assets, monthly independent attestations, redemption rights and wind-down plans.

The BMA opened consultation on amendments to mandate wind-down plans, add capital/solvency and liquidity rule-making powers, and expand enforcement powers — the first significant general update to DABA since 2018.

The court made a compulsory winding-up order against BlockFi International Ltd, a BMA Class F digital asset licensee, following its collapse — the most consequential failure of a Bermuda-licensed crypto firm.

Coinbase Bermuda Ltd secured a full 'F' licence under DABA, validating Bermuda as an international hub for major crypto exchanges and prompting Coinbase to base international operations on the island.

BlockFi's Bermuda-licensed entity petitioned the Supreme Court for joint provisional liquidators amid FTX-related contagion, the first major stress test of Bermuda's DABA framework.

The DAIA replaced the 2018 ICO legislation, moving oversight of token offerings under the BMA and requiring issuers to be authorised, appoint a local representative and publish an offering document.

Bermuda enacted one of the world's first comprehensive digital asset business frameworks, creating BMA-supervised Test, Modified and Full licences and folding crypto activity into AML/ATF rules.

The Companies and Limited Liability Company (Initial Coin Offering) Amendment Act 2018 made ICOs a 'restricted activity' requiring ministerial consent and a filed offer document, Bermuda's first crypto-specific law.