Plume Subsidiary Gains Bermuda Licence for Onchain Vaults

Plume, a blockchain platform focused on bringing traditional investments onchain, has secured a key regulatory approval in Bermuda to launch regulated asset vaults accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Plume operates as an institutional open finance network. Its Nest protocol already lets users access real-world assets (RWAs) – such as funds from major managers like Apollo Global Management, WisdomTree and Hamilton Lane – through compliant, noncustodial vaults. The company reports serving more than half of onchain RWA holders, with over $350mn in distributed asset value.

Its Bermuda subsidiary, Kimber Digital Assets Bermuda ISAC Ltd. (KDAB), has received a Class M Digital Asset Business Licence from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) under the Digital Asset Business Act 2018. This licence paves the way for what Plume describes as the first globally scalable, regulated onchain vaults.

How the vaults will work

The new vaults aim to make professional asset management as easy as using decentralized finance (DeFi), but with oversight from a respected regulator. Users would deposit assets, receive vault tokens representing their share, potentially earn yield, and redeem at net asset value. A curator would rebalance holdings according to fixed rules coded into immutable smart contracts, reducing reliance on traditional administrators or custodians.

Reserves would sit in noncustodial smart contracts with continuous, cryptographically verifiable proof of collateral from Bluprynt, an onchain verification service. Each vault would use an incorporated segregated account (ISA) structure under Bermuda law. This provides legal ring-fencing, separate legal personality and bankruptcy protection for investors.

The model echoes the 1990 launch of the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which helped grow the global ETF industry to roughly $14tn by making diversified investments widely accessible. Tokenized real-world assets currently hold roughly $23bn–$33bn onchain, according to industry trackers.

Bermuda’s regulatory appeal

Plume joins companies such as stablecoin issuer Circle, crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) and Kraken in choosing Bermuda for global operations. The BMA has supervised financial services since 1969 and offers a tiered licensing system. The Class M license is a modified category for entities scaling operations, with requirements around asset-liability management, liquidity controls and wind-down planning.

Vault tokens would feature built-in anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorist financing (ATF) screening, freeze-and-seize functions, and wallet risk checks. This setup seeks to give everyday users – such as a lawyer in Lagos or freelancer in Manila – access to institutional-grade products using just a smartphone and stablecoin, while meeting standards expected by major pension funds.

"The ETF was the last great structural innovation in asset management," said Chris Yin, Plume co-founder and CEO. "We are doing the same thing onchain."

Global reach, next steps

The structure pairs Bermuda-supervised feeder vehicles with programmable vault tokens. It builds on existing US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidance for US-registered master funds, potentially helping asset managers reach international investors more efficiently.

Plume's platform maintains a reported 0.000005% blocked transaction rate through its compliance tools – far below the roughly 1% seen on many other public blockchains. The announcement does not include specifics on initial assets, fee structures, expected yield ranges or targeted assets under management for the new vaults. Those details are expected "in the coming days and weeks."