The Bermuda Tech Summit kicked off with David Burt, the Premier, cataloguing the strengths of the jurisdiction and its potential as a technology hub, from its entrepreneurial spirit to its world-class and highly innovative regulator.

“I think we have a pretty good group of evangelists who understand that there is expertise that exists in Bermuda that doesn’t exist in other places,” Mr Burt said to a crowded Harbourview Ballroom at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club.

David Hart, the chief executive of the Bermuda Business Development Agency, noted that over the past year, the number of Digital Asset Business licences has increased 40 per cent to the present 23.

The Bermuda Tech Summit, which ends today, comes during a time of great tech challenges globally and locally.

Since the event was last held, FTX has collapsed and interest rates have rapidly increased, while Bermuda has faced a major cyberattack and the failure of Vesttoo, a promising insurtech with a local presence.

The summit also comes after the US Chapter 11 filings of Bittrex and BlockFi and the lack of follow through by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, in establishing a substantial local presence.

During his "Seaside Chat“ at the conference with Sandra Ro, the chief executive of the Global Blockchain Business Council, Mr Burt spoke of Bermuda’s position in the worlds of blockchain, crypto and AI and sent the message that the island has only just started its journey. It was a message of consistency, potential and strong but innovative regulation.

“Our approach has not changed. From the very beginning, we have treated digital assets as a totally separate asset class. This would prevent any type of confusion, as we have seen in other jurisdictions where it is not clearly defined,” he said.

“It will be a struggle to be all things to all people. That’s never been our plan. We adjusted our plan to focus on high-quality companies and not trying to attract everyone.

“The companies will come as long as they see there’s a continued path of innovation here.”

Mr Burt focused on a law in the works related to digital identity and the development of local uses for blockchain and other cutting-edge technologies.

“From the perspective of where we are, we are pleased. We just want to make sure we get more adoption on the ground. It is a challenge for us. But that’s the main thing we want to do,” he said

Two local projects specifically discussed included the development of universal health coverage and the development of systems to administer a corporate tax, which will be introduced in Bermuda on or after 2025. Mr Burt noted that these projects represent an opportunity to establish new digital infrastructure almost from scratch.

“We are building out an entire new tax system that is almost built from the ground up, based on a technology where it makes it easy to collect and easy to verify and more efficient,” he said.