Bermuda, the small island nation with huge crypto ambitions
Key takeaways
- In an interview with CoinDesk in London, Swan, the CEO of Bermuda’s Money Authority (BMA), spoke of his tiny island nation’s huge plans.
- The experiment was designed to onboard local vendors and the public simultaneously, Swan added.
- While the pop-up marketplace served as a sandbox, the BMA and the government of Bermuda are already scaling the infrastructure to prepare it for the blockchain.
The government recently announced it would become the world’s first economy to go fully onchain, a move officials believe will bring its people new opportunities.By Olivier Acuna|Edited by Stephen Alpher May 26, 2026, 4:23 p.m. 4 min read Make preferred on Bermuda is on path to become the world's first economy to go fully onchain. (Kino/Unsplash)What to know: Bermuda is working with Circle, Coinbase and Stellar to build what it hopes will be the world’s first fully onchain economy, including a sovereign Bermuda digital dollar.The Bermuda Monetary Authority has begun real-world testing by airdropping USDC to residents, enabling payments at a pop-up marketplace, and preparing to accept digital assets for government fees starting with the Department of Motor Vehicles.Regulators are updating laws on property, contracts and securities while piloting smart-contract-based compliance and an AI payments hub, aiming to make Bermuda a global center for tokenized assets and decentralized finance.Craig Swan’s eyes light up, and his smile widens when he speaks of Bermuda's ambitions to become the world’s first economy to go fully onchain, a move he is certain will create amazing new opportunities for the country's citizens.
In an interview with CoinDesk in London, Swan, the CEO of Bermuda’s Money Authority (BMA), spoke of his tiny island nation’s huge plans.
“We carried out a huge event in Bermuda to educate our citizens on how to set up their crypto wallet, and we airdropped $100 in Circle’s stablecoin USDC, and showed them how to use it for purchases, transfer or send it to friends and family or convert it and even offramp it into fiat if they chose to,” Swan said.