The Stellar Development Foundation and the Government of Bermuda announced a plan to move key payments and financial-services activity onto the Stellar network, positioning the island’s digital-asset strategy as an operational push rather than a policy statement alone. The initiative follows Bermuda’s January 2026 announcement at the World Economic Forum that it intends to become the world’s first fully onchain national economy.
Stellar Backs Bermuda’s Onchain Economy Push
Bermuda’s latest move builds on the Digital Asset Business Act of 2018, a regulatory framework that made the jurisdiction one of the earliest movers in comprehensive digital-asset oversight. The new collaboration with Stellar is framed around shifting everyday financial infrastructure onchain, including payments, public-sector services and regulated financial tools.
The program is also aimed at reducing payment costs for local businesses. Merchants in Bermuda currently pay 3% to 5% per card transaction, while effective payment-processing costs can reach as high as 10% in some categories. The use of digital assets and blockchain-based infrastructure is intended to keep more of that economic value within the island’s domestic economy.
“The lack of mobile money applications and reliance on legacy payments infrastructure has left Bermudians paying high payment processing fees and hindered additional economic growth opportunities,” said The Hon. E. David Burt, JP, MP, Premier of Bermuda. “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 and at the scale Bermuda requires.”
Bermuda Moves Payments and Services Onto Stellar
Under the plan, Bermudian residents will be able to receive wages, pay local merchants, settle government fees, and hold, send and receive digital assets through wallets on the Stellar network where available. Government agencies are expected to pilot stablecoin-based payments, while financial institutions will be able to integrate tokenization tools. The initiative also includes nationwide digital literacy programs designed to support adoption.
The plan extends beyond retail payments. Digital assets may be used for government payment systems tied to social service disbursements, creating a public-sector use case alongside merchant and consumer activity. Stellar’s cash on- and off-ramp network is expected to support access between digital assets and traditional cash-based systems, an important factor for residents and businesses moving between onchain and legacy rails.
“Stellar was purpose-built to streamline and seamlessly connect the global financial system. It delivers sustained transaction volume, enterprise-grade reliability across financial applications at scale and is the network for regulated onchain assets,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation. “Bermuda has assembled what most jurisdictions cannot: regulatory clarity, an aligned ecosystem, and a government willing to lead. The Stellar Development Foundation is proud to work with Bermuda to help realize the vision of a fully onchain economy.”
For Bermuda, the effort is a test of whether digital-asset infrastructure can be embedded into national payments, public services and regulated finance in a practical way. For Stellar, the partnership adds another sovereign-facing deployment to its institutional network strategy, following earlier work that includes the Republic of the Marshall Islands’ ENRA program and its USDM1-based nationwide onchain universal basic income disbursement in December 2025.
AI Transparency Note: This article was prepared with the assistance of an AI system based on the sources listed and was reviewed, edited, and approved by a human editor before publication. All quotes, data points, and factual claims are intended to be grounded in the cited source material; however, errors cannot be ruled out entirely.
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