Bermuda Update 2026: Trusts, Life Insurance and the Next Phase of Digital Assets
Bermuda’s wealth and fintech sectors are evolving beyond traditional trust planning and cryptocurrency regulation. From trust flexibility and life insurance structures to artificial intelligence, digital identity and tokenisation, advisers say the next phase will be defined by how established financial institutions adopt and integrate emerging technologies.
A year after Citywealth examined why Bermuda was attracting family offices and digital asset businesses, the jurisdiction continues to evolve. Alongside reforms to trusts and foundations, advisers are increasingly discussing the role of life insurance in preserving wealth across generations. Meanwhile, attention in the digital asset sector has shifted away from cryptocurrency speculation towards tokenisation, compliance and the potential impact of artificial intelligence and digital identity.
Bermuda is now home to 53 licensed digital finance businesses, including 39 digital asset companies and 14 innovative insurer businesses. Speaking at Consensus 2025, Premier David Burt said Bermuda’s next priorities include expanding digital identity frameworks and supporting the use of artificial intelligence in financial services.
The developments build on foundations that have been taking shape for several years. In Citywealth’s 2025 Bermuda report, Joshua Rubenstein, partner and Global Chair of Private Wealth at Katten, described Bermuda as “one of my favourite trust jurisdictions”, citing its combination of modern trust legislation and regulatory credibility. Kendaree Burgess, Managing Director of the Bermuda Business Development Agency, pointed to the jurisdiction’s early adoption of the Digital Asset Business Act (DABA), which she said was designed to create “clarity and confidence for both companies and investors”.
Today, conversations across Bermuda’s private wealth, insurance and fintech sectors are increasingly focused on four areas: trust flexibility, intergenerational wealth planning, digital identity and artificial intelligence, and the growing role of tokenisation within mainstream financial markets.
Trusts, foundations and flexibility
Trusts remain at the heart of Bermuda’s appeal for international families, but the structures themselves continue to evolve. Across the private wealth sector, advisers report growing demand for arrangements that can adapt to changing family circumstances, philanthropic ambitions and governance requirements rather than remaining fixed for generations.
Steven Rees Davies, a Bermuda-based partner at Carey Olsen specialising in fintech and digital assets, says recent developments have been aimed at providing families with greater flexibility.
“We’ve got changes in the law that allow a more flexible approach to trusts,” he says.
Alongside trust law developments, Bermuda has introduced benefit corporations and is considering dedicated foundation legislation. While foundations can already be replicated through existing structures, a standalone regime would provide a more familiar framework for many international families. Benefit corporations are designed to allow directors to balance profit with wider social or environmental objectives. Patagonia, the US outdoor apparel company, is perhaps the most widely cited example after its founder transferred ownership of the business into structures intended to direct future profits towards environmental initiatives.
“The idea of a benefit corporation is that you can establish a company that has objectives beyond profitability,” says Rees Davies.
The emphasis on flexibility reflects broader trends across the jurisdiction. Rubenstein described Bermuda’s approach as “slow and steady”, arguing that modern legislation combined with regulatory credibility makes it attractive for international families.
“Clients are best protected in a jurisdiction of uncompromised integrity and world class talent such as Bermuda,” he said.
Meanwhile, Randall Krebs, Director and Legal Counsel at Harbour International Trust Company, has observed an increase in trust migrations and restructurings. Existing trusts, he noted, are often “no longer fit for purpose”, with families increasingly seeking to modernise older structures through Bermuda’s legislative framework, including Section 47 of the Trustee Act.
Why life insurance is back in the conversation
While trusts remain the cornerstone of most succession plans, advisers are increasingly revisiting another traditional wealth planning tool: life insurance.
The subject resurfaced recently during discussions about how some of the world’s longest established dynastic families preserve wealth across generations. The Rockefeller family is frequently cited as an example, with life insurance reportedly playing a role in providing liquidity and replenishing family structures over time.
“There are various ways in which someone might structure or use life insurance,” says Rees Davies. “You’re paying money into something that will pay out upon your death to somebody else, the beneficiary.”
Rees Davies says the conversation is not simply about insurance itself but about where policies are written and how they fit within wider wealth structures. Tax treatment, regulatory oversight and the financial strength of the issuing insurer can all have significant implications for families planning across multiple jurisdictions.
For wealthy families, the attraction is straightforward. Life insurance can provide liquidity precisely when it is needed, particularly where wealth is concentrated in businesses, real estate or other illiquid assets. Rather than forcing the sale of assets, insurance proceeds can help support beneficiaries and family structures through generational transitions.
The discussion is particularly relevant in Bermuda because of the island’s position as one of the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance centres. The jurisdiction’s regulatory framework has long been recognised internationally, helping to make Bermuda a significant domicile for insurers serving global clients.
Increasingly, however, life insurance is also intersecting with digital assets.
One of the most visible examples is Meanwhile, a Bermuda licensed life insurer founded by former Coinbase executive Zac Townsend. Backed by investors including OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, the company offers bitcoin denominated life insurance and annuity products, allowing policyholders to pay premiums and receive benefits in bitcoin rather than traditional currencies.
For wealth advisers, the significance of Meanwhile lies less in the technology itself than in what it represents: a traditional financial product being adapted for a generation of entrepreneurs and investors whose wealth may already sit outside conventional banking and investment structures.
AI, digital assets and digital identity
If life insurance reflects the continued relevance of established planning tools, the next set of challenges facing advisers is decidedly more modern.
“There is this whole sort of perfect storm coming of AI, digital assets and digital identity,” says Rees Davies, “Imagine if you could acquire digital assets, earn a decent return as part of your treasury but with almost instant liquidity.”
The convergence of these technologies is creating legal and regulatory questions that are only beginning to be understood. Artificial intelligence is transforming decision making and information processing. Digital assets are creating new ways of storing and transferring value. Digital identity systems promise greater verification and security. Together, they have the potential to reshape large parts of financial services.
Yet the technologies do not always sit comfortably together.
“Blockchain is immutable. Well, if you can’t delete information, yet there’s a right to be forgotten, how do you blend those?” he asks.
The question goes to the heart of a growing debate. Privacy laws increasingly give individuals rights over their personal information, while blockchain technology is designed to create permanent records. Artificial intelligence introduces another layer of complexity, raising questions around accountability, responsibility and liability.
For Rees Davies, technology may change, but legal responsibility does not disappear.
“The law follows you,” he says. “The law exists because we as humans created it to manage behaviour. It will find the person responsible, no matter what.”
From crypto to compliance
Perhaps the most striking change in the digital asset sector is how the conversation itself has evolved.
When Bermuda introduced the Digital Asset Business Act in 2018, Burgess described the goal as creating “clarity and confidence for both companies and investors”. The framework helped attract businesses including Circle, Coinbase, Kraken and XBTO Global, while establishing Bermuda as one of the first jurisdictions to regulate the sector comprehensively.
Today, Rees Davies believes the discussion has moved beyond cryptocurrency itself.
“The technology underneath is phenomenal,” he says.
Increasingly, regulators and institutions are exploring how distributed ledger technology can improve transparency, monitoring and risk management. One concept gaining traction is what Rees Davies describes as embedded regulation, with compliance controls built directly into technology rather than applied after transactions have taken place.
“The technology could in fact be the answer to some of those problems.”
Tokenisation and instant settlement
One area where this shift is becoming visible is tokenisation.
Rather than creating entirely new assets, tokenisation involves representing ownership of traditional assets on blockchain based systems. Some of the world’s largest financial institutions are now exploring how the technology can be used to improve efficiency in existing markets.
Rees Davies points to Franklin Templeton’s BENJI platform as a leading example. The platform tokenises money market fund interests, allowing investors to access a traditional investment product through blockchain infrastructure.
For him, the critical question is simple.
“What is the token doing?”
The answer, he suggests, is not speculation but efficiency. Traditional fund transactions can take days to settle and redemptions may require investors to wait for access to capital. Tokenised assets offer the prospect of near instant settlement, greater liquidity and lower operating costs.
“Imagine if you could buy these things and they’re earning decent money as part of your treasury, but you can liquidate them instantly.”
Examples such as Franklin Templeton’s BENJI platform suggest that tokenisation is no longer confined to crypto-native businesses. Increasingly, some of the world’s largest asset managers and financial institutions are exploring how blockchain technology can improve existing financial infrastructure.
For Rees Davies, that marks a significant shift from the industry’s early years.
“The crypto natives seemed to think at the beginning they would replace the financial system,” he says. “The banks and the regulated financial sector have now turned around and said, you’re not going to replace us, but you’ve definitely got technology we want.”
The result is less a contest between traditional finance and digital assets than a growing partnership between the two. As family offices, insurers and asset managers look for greater efficiency, transparency and liquidity, the focus is increasingly shifting from disruption to integration, bringing technologies once associated with the crypto sector into mainstream financial services.
Key Takeaways
- Bermuda’s wealth and fintech sectors evolve beyond traditional planning, focusing on AI, digital identity, and tokenisation.
- Demand for flexible trusts and life insurance strategies grows, catering to evolving family needs and intergenerational wealth planning.
- Bermuda hosts 53 licensed digital finance businesses, with emphasis on digital identity frameworks and AI support in finance.
- The conversation shifts from cryptocurrency alone to compliance, regulation, and integrating digital assets in traditional finance.
- Tokenisation improves efficiency and liquidity, indicating a partnership between digital assets and established financial systems.
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