Bermuda Moves Entire National Payment Network 'On-chain'...Chooses Ripple Rival 'Stellar'

▲ Bermuda, Stellar (XLM), blockchain, cryptocurrency payment/AI generated image

Bermuda is beginning to move its core payment and financial service activities to the Stellar (XLM) network. NewsBTC reported on the 13th that the Stellar Development Foundation and the Bermudian government announced a partnership, and this move is the first operational phase of Bermuda's vision for the world's first fully on-chain national economy, as revealed at the World Economic Forum in January 2026.

This partnership was presented not as a pilot study or a working group, but as the beginning of actual deployment. Bermudian residents will be able to receive wages, make payments at local stores, pay government fees, and hold, send, and receive digital assets through digital wallets based on the Stellar network.

Bermudian government agencies are preparing for a stablecoin-based payment pilot. Financial institutions can integrate tokenization tools, and social welfare payments are also being considered as a use case.

The problem Bermuda aims to solve is payment costs. Local merchants currently bear 3% to 5% per transaction in card payment processing fees, with actual costs rising to 10% in some sectors. The lack of mobile money infrastructure and reliance on existing payment networks were also cited as issues, preventing costs from circulating within Bermuda and instead flowing out.

Bermuda Premier E. David Burt stated in the announcement that the digital dollar and Stellar infrastructure enable Bermuda to responsibly implement the systemic change needed at scale. NewsBTC reported that Bermuda chose on-chain payment infrastructure to lower payment costs and strengthen the circulation of value within the country.

The background for choosing Stellar is its network design tailored for regulated financial services. Stellar has an open and permissionless structure but also features the ability to configure asset control functions required by nations and institutions. Transactions are settled within seconds, and costs were presented as a fraction of a US cent.

Stellar also has a cash on/off-ramp network for digital assets. NewsBTC explained that this feature is particularly important for island economies that rely on accessible liquidity channels. Bermuda was also mentioned as a region that established one of the world's earliest comprehensive digital asset regulatory frameworks by introducing the Digital Asset Business Act in 2018.

Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, praised Bermuda for building regulatory clarity, an aligned ecosystem, and a forward-thinking government, which are difficult for most jurisdictions to achieve.

This announcement is not Stellar's first national-level deployment. NewsBTC reported that the Republic of the Marshall Islands completed the world's first nationwide on-chain basic income payment via Stellar network's USDM1 in December 2025. Bermuda's current program is presented as a case that builds on this precedent to fully initiate the on-chain transition of a national payment economy.

NewsBTC evaluated that a national government officially moving its payment economy on-chain is an event that transforms theoretical use cases of blockchain technology into operational stages. Bermuda's adoption of Stellar has established itself as the first fully on-chain economic experiment to verify whether on-chain payment and financial infrastructure can function at a national scale.

*Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not responsible for investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*