Government Of Bermuda Looking Towards Increasing Support For Blockchain And Cryptocurrency

By Rishma Banerjee

The Government of Bermuda has recently revealed plans to increase the support rendered by them, for the development of cryptocurrency and the blockchain technology, by tackling the problems in the banking industry.

The Premier of Bermuda, Edward David Burt who was attending the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland last week, announced the development of a special bank that accepts cryptocurrency and blockchain companies, will be made this week.

“I’m proud to say that next week we’ll be making an announcement revealing that a bank will be set up in the country that will start accepting crypto and blockchain companies,” David said at the conference.

The conference which has been organized so that a platform for leaders of different countries can be organized which will on a variety of issues, as it has both positive and negative effects and connotations.

One of the major problems that have been affecting crypto companies in the past has been the access to the financial institutions which will help provide them with basic banking activities. Countries like India, so far have adopted a reluctant stance when it comes to cryptocurrencies, so much so, that the reserve bank has issued a warning to all financial institutions about not getting involved with cryptocurrency firms and transactions.

This has resulted in crypto investors not being able to transact on exchanges but, only through P2P networks.

Bermuda, however, had gone a step forward last year by amending the Banking Act in order to establish a new class of bank which will provide the basic banking services to blockchain and cryptocurrency organizations.

But, in spite of the amendment, some banks refused to comply with the directive, as Premier Burk promised to use this special bank to tackle the problem.

“Despite the robust regulations put in place, to date, our four local banks have been unwilling to offer services to newly incorporated fintech and distributed-ledger technology companies. This is a problem that we must fix or else Bermuda will not be able to realize the possibility of economic growth that can come from a fintech industry on our shores.”

The island since has recorded some positive development in the crypto sector of the country like the launching of Will McDonough’s new cryptocurrency firm, Icash, in the country. Binance also announced mid last year about the setting up of their global compliance center worth $15 million in the country.