KDAB receives a modified digital asset business licence
A Class M licence is a modified digital asset business licence, not the same as a full Class F licence. The BMA describes Class M as a category for firms seeking to expand operations for a limited period under the Digital Asset Business Act 2018. Class F is the full licence category. The BMA’s general framework covers activities such as issuing, selling or redeeming digital assets, operating digital asset exchanges, providing custodial wallet services, operating as a digital asset services vendor and providing digital asset lending or repurchase transaction services.
Plume says KDAB’s Class M licence allows the subsidiary to create and distribute vault tokens under AML standards and operate as a regulated onchain vault manager. That statement describes Plume’s account of KDAB’s authorization. The BMA’s public materials establish the broader digital asset business licensing framework, while KDAB’s exact permitted activities remain tied to the terms of its own licence and any supervisory conditions attached by the regulator.
Bermuda’s Class M category carries scale and supervisory limits. The Bermuda Business Development Agency’s DABA overview describes Class M as a scale-up category for a business model that has previously been tested, generally involving limited scale or volume, monthly supervisory meetings and reporting, a minimum net asset requirement of $100,000, insurance expectations and a typical duration of 12 to 24 months, with possible extension. The BMA’s applicant guidance also expects structured compliance, operational-risk, liquidity-risk, market-risk and risk-management documentation.
Plume outlines ISA vaults and AML controls
Plume says KDAB vaults will use an Incorporated Segregated Account, or ISA, structure under Bermuda’s Incorporated Segregated Accounts Act 2019. According to Plume, each KDAB vault is structured through its own ISA, with separate legal personality, statutory ring-fencing and bankruptcy-remoteness characteristics. Bermuda ISAC materials describe incorporated segregated accounts as legal persons, while Bermuda legal commentary describes the ISAC framework as creating segregated accounts with separate legal status and ring-fenced assets.
Plume also says KDAB vault reserves will be held onchain in non-custodial smart contracts, with cryptographically verifiable proof of collateral attested to by Bluprynt. In Plume’s announcement, KDAB’s vault contracts are described as immutable and non-upgradeable at the smart-contract asset-control layer. Plume also says the AML programme includes transaction monitoring, wallet-level screening and freeze-and-seize capabilities embedded in the vault token.
Plume frames KDAB as a way to connect U.S.-registered master funds with non-U.S. feeder structures through programmable vault tokens. That is Plume’s intended distribution model, not an unconditional global distribution permission. Investor access remains subject to AML/KYC checks, sanctions screening, local securities laws, fund documentation, eligibility requirements, platform rules and any conditions attached to KDAB’s Class M licence.
The confirmed position is that Plume announced KDAB’s Bermuda Class M DAB licence on May 20, 2026. The licence places KDAB inside Bermuda’s modified digital asset business regime, while Plume’s vault, AML and distribution claims remain company-described operating plans subject to regulatory limits, investor eligibility and applicable law.