Back

Bermuda and Stellar Development Foundation Plan Payments Shift to Stellar Network

According to Stellar, Bermuda will begin moving key payment and financial services onto its network as part of an effort to build a fully on-chain national economy.

XLM

Fact Check
The core claim is strongly supported. The official @StellarOrg X account posted the announcement on May 12, 2026, linking to a stellar.org press release confirming the Stellar Development Foundation and Government of Bermuda partnership to move key payment and financial services onchain. crypto.news independently reports the USDC-based government payments pilot on Stellar. The Odaily source specifically corroborates the 3%-5% merchant payment processing cost reduction goal. The Royal Gazette provides earlier context from March 2026 showing this was in development. The only minor uncertainty is around the '10%' figure for some cases, which was not independently confirmed in the retrieved sources, though the 3%-5% range is well-attested. Overall, the claim accurately reflects a real, officially announced initiative.
Summary

Bermuda and the Stellar Development Foundation announced that the island nation will begin moving key payment and financial services activity onto the Stellar network. The rollout is presented as a live deployment rather than a pilot, with residents expected to receive wages, pay merchants, settle government fees, and use digital wallets to hold, send, and receive digital assets. The announcement also says government agencies plan to pilot stablecoin-based payments, financial institutions may integrate tokenization tools, and social service disbursements are being explored. The move is intended to lower transaction costs for local merchants, who currently pay 3% to 5% per card payment and in some cases as much as 10%.

Terms & Concepts
  • Stellar network: A blockchain-based payments network designed for fast, low-cost transfers and financial settlement.
  • Stablecoin: A cryptocurrency designed to keep a stable value, often by being linked to a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar.
  • tokenization: The process of representing assets or financial instruments as digital tokens that can be issued and transferred on a blockchain.