David Burt has compared Bermuda’s fledgeling digital asset industry to the insurance sector in its infancy, arguing that modest current numbers mask long‑term potential.

Government statistics show that in 2024, Digital Asset Business Act‑licensed firms employed 22 people, 11 of them Bermudian, and that related fee revenue of $1.6 million accounted for about 1.4 per cent of Bermuda Monetary Authority revenue. Critics say that is a small return for a sector that has dominated political and promotional attention.

Mr Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, sees it differently. In an interview with The Royal Gazette from the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, he said digital finance is “going to be the future” and that Bermuda has “an opportunity to be there on the ground floor”.

“We can quote the statistics of what insurance represented to Bermuda’s economy 40 years ago, and make those comparisons if we wish, but our job as government is not just to focus on the here and now. It is also to think about the future,” he said. Other jurisdictions, he added, are “trying to play catch-up to us”.

At Davos this week, he underlined that insurance remains a core pillar. He attended an insurance leaders lunch with chief executives and took part in a session on how to “continue to innovate in the sector”, where he said he was “able to demonstrate what Bermuda is doing”.

Bermuda, he argued, needs to “be in the room with these insurance leaders” and foster relationships to address any challenges they face on the island.

Earlier last week, the Premier announced plans to transform Bermuda into the world’s first “fully onchain” national economy, expanding a partnership with leading companies Coinbase and Circle to embed digital asset infrastructure across government, business and financial services.

On digital assets, he cited growing international recognition. He said he had a long conversation with François-Philippe Champagne, the Canadian finance minister, who had just tabled legislation and “was completely unaware of the work that Bermuda was doing inside the digital asset space” but invited Bermudian officials to collaborate and “share the work of which we are doing”.

Mr Burt also flagged talks with the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Alliance and Microsoft Elevate on “skilling and upskilling the economy”, including a push to help government staff make better use of existing Microsoft 365 tools to upscale the workforce.

In posts on social media, the Premier described broader discussions in Davos about how governments can scale digital systems while maintaining public trust and accountability. Mr Burt said he discussed the responsible growth of digital finance with Brian Armstrong, the chief executive of Coinbase, and took part in a session with Wamkele Mene, the secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Additionally, he announced a new collaboration with the Filecoin Foundation and the Internet Archive to create a secure, long-term digital preservation system for Bermuda’s public records.

He also spoke at a Global Blockchain Business Council event on the future of financial infrastructure, where he outlined Bermuda’s approach to building regulated digital systems, and participated in another WEF session on best practices in digital governance.