Bermuda’s push into tokenised real-world assets could gain new momentum, according to a Binance-backed technology firm that says small island economies are well-placed to build entire capital markets on blockchain — even without the natural resources often used to support such systems elsewhere.

Xin Yan, chief executive of Sign Global, told The Royal Gazette that jurisdictions such as Bermuda, where the Bermuda Monetary Authority has already begun shaping a regulatory framework for tokenisation, can apply the same model now being tested in Barbados.

He said sovereign blockchains allow countries to convert a wide range of assets into digital form, building a new layer of national infrastructure.

“In every country you have different assets,” he said. “First, you start from your fiat, but there will be more. All of these resources will be tokenised and put on-chain to form an on-chain capital market.”

He added that for smaller economies without commodities such as oil or minerals, tokenised financial instruments could play that role instead.

He agreed this could include insurance-linked structures in Bermuda.

He said: “This is just the beginning phase. Gradually we’re going to launch more assets and launch different services on blockchain.”

Last month, the BMA launched a sweeping review of how real-world assets should be tokenised and regulated on the island, signalling particular interest in tokenised catastrophe bonds, collateralised reinsurance structures and new parametric products.

The authority said tokenisation is now a priority for global standard-setters and that Bermuda must ensure its framework remains competitive and aligned.

Sign Global — backed by a multimillion-dollar investment from YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs — is one of several companies exploring how sovereign blockchain systems can be used for national financial infrastructure.

Both Binance and Circle, another Sign investor, have longstanding ties to Bermuda’s digital-asset sector, said Mr Yan.

He added that the firm benefits from its investors’ global reach. “They have a lot of connections in different jurisdictions, in different countries, and we are more like the builder [of the technology], so we go to different countries together,” he said.

YZi Labs is now overseen by Zhao Changpeng, the Binance cofounder who once pledged significant investment in Bermuda during the early stages of the island’s digital-asset push.

Mr Zhao spent the past year rebuilding influence after serving four months in prison in the United States for violating anti-money-laundering rules.

Binance paid a $4.3-billion penalty, while Mr Zhao personally paid a $50-million fine and received a lifetime ban from holding an executive role at the exchange. He received a pardon from Donald Trump in October.

Sign’s technology is being deployed in Barbados through a partnership with mMoney, a local digital-wallet provider.

The pair will launch an Asset Distribution System designed to automate grants, community aid and merchant rewards.

The system will run on “Bajan Chain”, a national Layer 2 blockchain developed by Sign to meet local compliance rules and keep financial data within the jurisdiction.

According to its profile on X, Sign is also backed by Sequoia Capital.

A key part of the Barbados pilot will be its digital-identity integration.

Mr Yan said sovereign blockchains reduce the risks of traditional ID systems, where “you put all the data into one server and there’s a lot of risk for this”.

With blockchain, he said, “people can verify these credentials without talking to the server”.

Jerry Zhou, a partner at Sign Global and project owner for Bajan Chain, said the national Layer 2 network is designed to balance security with global interoperability.

“The nation could store the identity information on Layer 2,” he explained, adding that governments want the benefits of public networks such as Ethereum but must manage security concerns.

“Our solution is to balance liquidity and safety concerns,” he said. “The government can control the Layer 2 network if there’s the need, for example, to stop or freeze a certain asset.”

Sign’s Barbados work provides one of the first test cases for a national blockchain framework supporting citizen-facing services, and potentially, future tokenised asset markets across small island states.