Plume Network’s Bermuda subsidiary, Kimber Digital Assets Bermuda ISAC Ltd. (KDAB), has been granted a Class M Digital Asset Business Licence by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), making it the first regulated onchain vault manager under the country’s Digital Asset Business Act 2018. The announcement, made from Hamilton on May 20, 2026, gives Plume a regulated wrapper for distributing tokenized vault products to global investors and slots the firm alongside Circle, Coinbase and Kraken as Bermuda-licensed digital asset operators. KDAB’s vaults will be backed by regulated funds and what Plume described as high-quality assets sourced from the US, Hong Kong and other major jurisdictions.
An onchain vault is a smart contract that pools user deposits, allocates them to a defined strategy, and issues proportional share tokens that holders can redeem at net asset value. KDAB’s structure ports that mechanic into a regulated wrapper: deposits, share issuance, yield distribution and redemption all run through immutable smart contracts, while a licensed curator manages allocations within hardcoded rules.
- Plume’s Bermuda subsidiary KDAB received a Class M DABA license on May 20, 2026, the first regulated onchain vault manager license issued globally.
- Each KDAB vault operates as an incorporated segregated account under Bermuda’s 2019 ISA framework, providing statutory ring-fencing and bankruptcy remoteness.
- AML controls are modeled on stablecoin standards under Bermuda law and the U.S. GENIUS Act, with freeze-and-seize capabilities embedded at the vault-token level.
- Plume joins Circle, Coinbase and Kraken among firms using Bermuda’s DABA framework, with the first BMA-regulated KDAB vaults set to launch in coming weeks.
Published: May 20, 2026 09:30 UTC
Why Bermuda, and why now
KDAB chose Bermuda because the BMA has built one of the most developed regulatory frameworks for digital asset and real-world asset businesses. The Class M Digital Asset Business Licence subjects KDAB and each of its incorporated segregated accounts to prudential supervision covering cybersecurity, anti-money laundering, custody and capital requirements. The Incorporated Segregated Accounts Act 2019 gives each vault its own legal personality, separate from other vaults and from KDAB itself, which Plume said delivers full bankruptcy remoteness for vault depositors.
Bermuda has been positioning DABA as a destination jurisdiction for crypto firms since 2018. Circle holds a Bermuda license for USDC custody, Coinbase obtained one for derivatives trading, and Kraken uses the framework for its institutional offering. Plume’s license adds vault management as a fourth recognized digital asset activity under the regime.
Salman Banaei, Plume’s general counsel, said the framework “represents an important milestone in the developing global onchain capital markets” and added that the BMA had adopted technology controls that meet or exceed the goals of its policy mandates.
The ETF comparison Plume is making
Chris Yin, Plume’s co-founder and CEO, framed the launch as a continuation of the ETF format rather than a departure from it. “The ETF was the last great structural innovation in asset management. It took the same underlying exposure, equities, bonds, commodities, and made it radically more accessible by changing the wrapper. We are doing the same thing onchain,” Yin said in the announcement.
The pitch to institutional allocators is that vault tokens deliver ETF-like exposure with onchain settlement, programmable distribution and 24/7 redemption, while the Bermuda license addresses the regulatory questions that have kept many off DeFi rails. The vault smart contracts are immutable and non-upgradeable at the asset control layer, which Plume said eliminates the administrative key vulnerabilities that have driven the majority of recent DeFi exploits.
Compliance built into the token
KDAB’s AML program is supervised directly by the BMA and includes continuous transaction monitoring plus screening at the vault-token level regardless of which blockchain the token bridges to. Plume said the program is modeled on stablecoin standards under Bermuda law and the U.S. GENIUS Act, the federal payment stablecoin law enacted in July 2025 that requires 1:1 reserves and monthly attestations from issuers. Vault tokens carry freeze-and-seize capabilities embedded directly in the contract, allowing KDAB to respond to sanctions or court orders without relying on chain-level intervention.
Plume cited a 0.000005% blocked transaction rate on its compliance chain, against roughly 1% across other public blockchains, as evidence the AML controls hold up at scale. The figure is self-reported and has not been independently audited.
What comes next
Plume said it will announce the first BMA-regulated KDAB vaults in the coming days and weeks. The company has not disclosed which curators, asset managers or yield strategies will launch first. Plume currently runs roughly $645 million in tokenized real-world assets across its ecosystem and led all chains with about 259,000 RWA holders as of April 2026, according to public dashboards.
The license arrives as US regulators continue building their own rules for tokenized funds. The SEC unveiled a tokenized stock innovation exemption on May 19, and the GENIUS Act’s implementing regulations are due by July 18, 2026. KDAB’s framework gives Plume a working regulated structure ahead of either US framework taking final shape.
FAQ
What is a Class M Digital Asset Business Licence?
The Class M license is a Bermuda Monetary Authority designation under the Digital Asset Business Act 2018 for unrestricted digital asset business activities. It carries the highest prudential, AML and cybersecurity requirements among Bermuda’s DABA tiers, with ongoing supervision by the BMA.
How does KDAB differ from a standard DeFi vault?
Most DeFi vaults run permissionlessly with curators that can be anonymous or upgradable. KDAB vaults run on immutable smart contracts but are managed by a Bermuda-licensed curator subject to AML supervision, transaction monitoring and capital rules. Each vault is a legally separate incorporated segregated account, so depositors are insulated from problems in other vaults.
Does the license cover US investors?
The BMA license authorizes KDAB to operate from Bermuda, but distribution into specific jurisdictions still depends on local rules. Plume has not disclosed which countries the initial vault tokens will be offered in. US access to many tokenized products remains gated by SEC and state-level requirements.
