Jewel Bank Approved as Bermuda's First Digital Asset Bank as Premier Burt Readies to Take Nation Into Stablecoins
The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) issued full-bank and digital asset business licenses to Jewel, which plans to issue a USD stablecoin and other single fiat currencies.
Jun 7, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. UTC
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Bermuda-based Jewel Bank received its full bank and digital asset business licenses from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), becoming the island nation’s first digital asset bank, the company said in a statement. (Bermuda's Premier David Burt will speak at Consensus 2022 in Austin, Texas, this week.)
- Jewel Bank will serve digital asset firms in non-sanctioned countries worldwide, including the U.S.
- The bank plans to offer services in Bermuda and help accelerate the nation’s “digital transformation.”
- Bermuda is known for its crypto-friendly regulations and compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures, according to Jewel’s leadership.
- Jewel Settle, a real-time settlement network for payments, will allow select Jewel clients to settle with their digital asset trading counterparts in USD within minutes and at any time of day.
- Jewel plans to issue a USD stablecoin and has plans for other single fiat currencies.
- The bank also plans to issue stablecoins for other banks and non-bank financial institutions that don’t have the same regulatory, technology, and compliance capabilities.
- Bermuda Premier David Burt told CoinDesk two years ago, during a podcast at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he is spearheading projects to use the island as a testing ground for stablecoins and to launch a community-owned national digital bank.
CoinDesk podcast Money Reimagined: 'Bermuda Will Skip the Age of CBDCs' With Premier David Burt
- “Institutional banking infrastructure has been the critical missing link for high growth digital asset exchanges and institutions outside of the U.S., bringing much-needed liquidity, reliability, and scale to this rapidly growing global space and its demand for fiat ramps and stablecoin payments,” said Chancellor Barnett, Jewel Bank's founder, chairman and chief strategy officer.
Updated June 9 at 13:50 UTC: Corrects timing of podcast from "this month" to "two years ago."
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Elizabeth Napolitano is a news reporter at CoinDesk.
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