People packed Pier Six on Front Street for the opening of the Bermuda Digital Finance Forum, as organisers handed out money in the form of digital currency.

More than 200, from teenagers to nonagenarians, attended the first day of the event organised by Penrose Partners. Five hundred registered for the five-day conference.

All attendees who downloaded the Coinbase Wallet app received $100 in USDC cryptocurrency.

Many used their “new wealth” to buy items in the event’s vendor village.

At lunch, many people scanned quick response codes to make digital payments for merchandise such as lemonade, sandwiches or forum T-shirts.

One of the vendors, Earlette Stephens, of the souvenir shop Little Roads Bermuda, commented on what it was like to set up digital payment acceptance.

“I have a bricks-and-mortar shop and am kind of old-fashioned,” Ms Stephens said. “The world is moving fast. Tourists ask about digital payment all the time at Harbour Nights.”

She thought her answer would always be “no”, until her daughter, Ashley Stephens, of Ashley’s Lemonade, encouraged her to take a digital finance workshop with the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation. The class changed her mind.

“I was in the room with all these other business owners who wanted to use it,” Ms Stephens said. “I did not want to get left behind, so here I am.”

She found it exciting to see how fast payments were transferred without incurring any of the fees typical with credit card payments.

“My only fear is losing my mobile phone,” she said.

Her digital wallet is downloaded to her phone.

“I am happy I did not miss out, and I am ready to learn and grow,” she added.

David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, said digital finance is only seven years old in Bermuda, but is already seeing tremendous growth.

“I want people to understand and learn how they can innovate and build from the ground up,” Mr Burt said.

He reiterated the Government’s plan to have a digital currency payment option available for paying taxes, saying it wanted to start with the Transport Control Department. However, he did not give a time line for this scheme, having discussed as long ago as 2019 the potential benefits for the island.

“Government is looking to change its infrastructure to accept digital currency payments,” Mr Burt said. He said the Government wants to take advantage of available technology.

“We have attracted the best companies in the world to bring their technology and expertise to our shores,” Mr Burt said. “With these low-cost payments between persons, businesses and governments, we can strengthen our economy, lower the cost of doing business and lower the cost of many things in Bermuda.”

He said the future of finance was here, and hoped that digital finance would eventually extend to investments.