Looking to issue digital assets in Bermuda using our regulatory framework? Perhaps you’d like to do a Security Token Offering, a Utility Token Offering or an Initial Coin Offering?
Bermuda’s regulatory framework provides the certainty needed to make it possible to launch products without being paralyzed by regulatory uncertainty.
For example, fund raise for your product or business in Bermuda by raising capital from FinTech friendly jurisdictions to get your initial traction and prove your business model. Then target more traditional markets when you’ve got the capacity to navigate the complex web of those jurisdiction’s securities laws.
Understanding Digital Assets
The first thing to understand is that we take a generic approach from a regulatory standpoint. Rather than distinguishing between Security Tokens, Utility Tokens and whatever other variation is developed in the future, we recognize that there is flexibility in leaving it generic.
We define Digital Assets generically in our legislation to provide the flexibility this new industry needs to grow. From a Bermuda perspective it doesn’t matter if your offering is a utility token or security token. This leaves you free to focus on how to compliantly raise money from citizens in other jurisdictions, where these sorts of distinctions do matter.
Issuing Digital Assets
In order to facilitate the issuance of Digital Assets, we initially modified our Companies Act to create an Initial Coin Offering amendment and regulations in the summer of 2018. Later, in the summer of 2020, based upon the experienced gained with our first few issuances we repealed our initial legislation and rolled out a bespoke and strengthened framework refered to as the Digital Issuance Act.
There is no requirement for a physical presence in order to launch Digital Assets, however we do encourage you to consider it.
Details regarding the application process can be obtained by writing innovate@bma.bm