Bermuda shifts government payments onto Stellar rails

Bermuda is moving government payments onto Stellar, piloting USDC‑based rails with Circle and Coinbase as it chases a fully on‑chain national economy and cheaper cross‑border flows.

Summary

• Bermuda’s government is migrating parts of its payments infrastructure to the Stellar blockchain as it pursues a fully on-chain national economy.
• The move builds on Bermuda’s digital asset strategy and Premier David Burt’s engagement with U.S. policymakers at the DC Blockchain Summit.
• It coincides with Stellar’s push as a stablecoin settlement layer, reinforced by a new integration with crypto payments network Mesh.

The government of Bermuda is moving elements of its public payment infrastructure onto the Stellar blockchain, advancing its ambition to become the world’s first fully on-chain national economy, according to an official government announcement.

Bermuda deepens on-chain economy bet with Stellar

The British Overseas Territory said government agencies will “begin piloting stablecoin-based payments,” with financial institutions integrating tokenization tools and residents transacting via digital wallets as part of a “modern, efficient” on-chain economy.

Unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the plan aims to “make the British Overseas Territory the world’s ‘first fully on-chain national economy’,” as reported by GlobalGovernmentFinance. Bermuda is partnering with Circle, issuer of the USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin, and crypto exchange Coinbase to deliver the digital asset infrastructure, with government agencies piloting on-chain payments and local financial institutions “integrating tokenisation tools” into their services.

Authorities argue that embedding blockchain-based payments directly into day-to-day economic activity is a response to structural constraints faced by small island economies, including high transaction costs and limited access to global banking networks. The government said the transition to an on-chain economy is expected over time to deliver “lower transaction costs” and “greater access to global finance through modern digital wallets,” while keeping “economic value circulating locally,” according to its statement.

Premier David Burt has been actively selling that vision abroad, most recently at the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington, where he met U.S. policymakers and industry leaders to discuss “stablecoin frameworks, tokenised markets, digital asset insurance and financial market integrity,” the government said in a separate update. Burt has pointed to Bermuda’s 2018 Digital Asset Business Act and the island’s regulatory regime as examples of how “responsible digital asset innovation and regulation” can co-exist, positioning the country as a testbed for on-chain public finance.

At the same time, Stellar is consolidating its role as a stablecoin settlement layer, with crypto payments network Mesh announcing that it has integrated Stellar as a “core settlement layer across the Mesh ecosystem,” according to a PRNewswire release. “Stellar has been running the financial rails that institutions trust for over a decade, with the uptime, fiat connectivity, and cross-border reach that serious payment flows demand,” Mesh co-founder and CEO Bam Azizi said, adding that the partnership “creates a framework for deeper collaboration as demand for stablecoin payments continues to grow.”

With stablecoin market capitalization on Stellar recently surpassing $400 million, driven largely by USDC, the network is proving its ability to handle real-world payment flows, according to coverage from altFINS. For Bermuda, anchoring government payments and future public services to that infrastructure is a bet that blockchain rails can cut fees, speed up settlement and widen access to dollar liquidity for residents and businesses alike.