Bermuda Grants Highest-Tier Crypto Licences as AI Push Gains Momentum

Bitcoin Suisse, a Swiss crypto financial services firm (investment advisory and portfolio management), and STS Digital, a Bermuda-based trading and market-making firm specializing in digital asset derivatives, secured the approvals from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). The announcements were made on 12 May during the Bermuda Digital Finance Forum.

Bermuda established one of the world’s earliest dedicated frameworks for digital assets with the Digital Asset Business Act (DABA) in 2018. The regime has drawn major institutions by offering regulatory clarity in a sector often marked by uncertainty.

Bermuda regulatory model

The BMA’s staged "T-M-F" licensing process enables firms to begin under a test licence with restricted permissions, advance to a modified licence, and ultimately obtain a full (class F) licence after proving strong operational, compliance and risk controls. Class F represents the highest and most comprehensive level of authorization under the framework.

Bitcoin Suisse will use its Class F licence to broaden regulated services for professional and institutional clients outside Switzerland. It previously gained in-principle approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s (ADGM) regulator. STS Digital said the licence will support growth in institutional offerings after completing the full three-stage process.

Premier David Burt, the elected head of government who is also the territory’s finance minister, told the forum that Bermuda now hosts more than 45 licensed digital asset companies. "There’s no guessing games with our regulator," he said, referencing the jurisdiction’s predictable approach to innovations such as tokenized investments.

Other DABA licence holders include stablecoin issuer Circle (USDC), exchanges Kraken and Coinbase (COIN), plus XBTO, Hashdex, Zero Hash, Apex Group, Jewel Bank, Stablehouse and Block’s Cash App.

First regulated prediction market

In a further sign of Bermuda’s innovation-friendly stance, the BMA granted a digital asset business licence to Glimpse Ltd. for Bermuda’s first regulated crypto-based prediction market. The platform treats event contracts as digital asset derivatives under the DABA framework, rather than traditional gaming products, providing regulatory clarity for this fast-growing sector.

The approval, advised by Walkers Global, demonstrates Bermuda’s willingness to classify novel products creatively while maintaining robust oversight.

Government moves into AI systems

Alongside the licensing announcements, the Government of Bermuda revealed a partnership with NEAR AI, the artificial intelligence platform developed within the NEAR blockchain ecosystem. The project will build AI tools for public services, initially targeting administrative systems that process sensitive citizen data.

It will incorporate NEAR AI’s IronClaw system, which embeds encryption at the architectural level to ensure that even infrastructure providers cannot access raw information. Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR and CEO of NEAR AI, stressed the design priority: "When a public servant submits their personal data to an AI system, even the infrastructure provider should not be able to see that data. Confidentiality should be built into the very architecture of AI systems that handle sensitive information."

Dual-licensing relief for tokenized assets

Bermuda is further streamlining rules for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and financial products. The BMA released a consultation paper on guidance that proposes dual-licensing relief to cut regulatory overlap. Digital asset firms handling only tokenized investments could be exempted from legal requirements related to older rules for investment businesses, while traditional investment firms tokenizing assets could avoid separate DABA obligations.

The public consultation closes on 30 Jun.