Stakeholder Letter - Feedback from Discussion Paper on Asset Tokenisation (2026-03-30)

Summary

This is a stakeholder letter from the Bermuda Monetary Authority summarising feedback received on its November 2025 Discussion Paper on Asset Tokenisation and outlining the BMA's preliminary views. It is informational rather than binding: it does not itself impose new rules, but signals the direction of policy that will be formalised in a forthcoming Consultation Paper due in April 2026.

• Regulatory approach: The BMA intends to retain an activity based, platform centric approach under the Digital Asset Business Act 2018 (DABA), applying tailored requirements to issuers, intermediaries and custodians rather than creating a wholly new tokenisation regime.
• Licensing and exemptions: The BMA proposes an integrated exemption framework to avoid dual licensing under DABA, the Investment Business Act 2003 (IBA), the Investment Funds Act 2006 (IFA) and the Fund Administration Provider Business Act 2019, with mirrored exemptions depending on an entity's primary licence.
• Investor qualification: The BMA intends to harmonise 'qualified participants' under the IFA and 'qualified acquirers' under the Digital Asset Issuance Act 2020 (DAIA) into unified investor qualification definitions.
• Insurance sector: Existing Innovative Insurer (IIGB/IILT) classes are viewed as capable of accommodating tokenised insurance and reinsurance products without a new licence class, with a focus on parametric products.
• Legislative gaps: Respondents and the BMA identify a need for legislative modernisation, including recognition of DLT based share registers, clarity on token holder rights in insolvency, and treatment of custody and control of tokenised collateral.
• Conduct and operational expectations: The BMA signals expectations around governance, custody safeguards, smart contract security audits, operational resilience, cyber risk management, token standard due diligence, and tailored disclosure to customers.

No firm obligations, deadlines or enforceable requirements are created by this letter itself; it is a feedback summary and policy preview. Entities engaged or interested in tokenisation should watch for the Consultation Paper expected in April 2026, which will set out the BMA's formal proposed regulatory approach for further industry comment.

Applies to

digital asset business licensees under DABA, investment business licensees under the IBA, investment funds and fund administrators under the IFA and Fund Administration Provider Business Act 2019, insurers operating under Innovative Insurer General Business and Innovative Insurer Long-term Business classes, tokenisation platform operators, digital asset issuers under the Digital Asset Issuance Act 2020

Deadlines

• April 2026: BMA will issue a Consultation Paper detailing its policy and proposed regulatory approach to asset tokenisation