According to a blog post published by Circle on its website, Bermuda has become the first country to accept Circle’s stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) as a mean of tax payment, fees and other government services.
According to the blog post, the development is part of a broader initiative, which sees the Bermuda government support the use of USD-dollar backed stablecoins and decentralized finance protocols and services.
USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, was launched on September 26,2018, by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and Circle. According to a report published by Circle on the first anniversary of USDC, it is the fastest growing stablecoin in the world. The report says as of mid-September, more than $23 billion of USDC has been traded on crypto exchanges.
The report further reads:
“And USDC continues to pick up steam. The amount of USDC traded on exchanges grew 350% in the last six months. The value of USDC transferred on chain nearly tripled to $17 billion in the last six months. There have been more than 750,000 transactions involving USDC across more than 62,000 wallets.”
Circle, based in Boston, United States, was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Allaire, and Sean Neville. It is a global internet finance company, built on blockchain technology and powered by crypto assets. In October of 2018, Circle and Coinbase launched Centre consortium to help eliminate artificial economic borders and enable a more efficient and inclusive global financial system that connects every business and every person on the planet, according to the blog post.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of the Circle, talking to an crypto news outlet, said:
“Bermuda’s Premier made a broader announcement today about embracing stablecoins as the future of the financial system, with a focus on innovations in fintech that can deliver value not just for Bermudians, but also globally via company’s licensed under their Digital Asset Business Act.”
Bermuda is a small territory trying to attract Blockchain and crypto businesses by creating regulatory certainty where other, larger governments have failed to deliver. In the end of 2017, the government of Bermuda launched a blockchain task force in conjunction with the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA). This task force passed bills to make Bermuda a favourable country for crypto-related businesses.
In July 2019, seeing favourable environment, Circle moved majority of its exchange operation in Bermuda.
