World's First Bitcoin Bonds Receive Regulatory Approval from El Salvador
El Salvador's long-planned bitcoin (BTC) bonds have received regulatory approval, moving one step closer to issuance in early 2024.
The bonds will be offered on Bitfinex Securities, a regulated division of crypto exchange Bitfinex.
El Salvador's National Bitcoin Office said in its statement, "Volcano Bond has received regulatory approval from the Commission on Digital Assets (CNAD)," adding: "We estimate that the bond will be issued in the first quarter of 2024."
The country's president, Nayib Bukele, also confirmed the developments with his Twitter posts.
The bonds, called âVolcano bondsâ, were announced immediately after Nayib Bukele passed the law recognizing bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.
Bukele's goal was to raise $1 billion through bitcoin-backed bonds to pave the way for a renewable energy-based bitcoin mining industry.
The issuance was initially planned for March 2022, but was postponed several times. However, at the end of November 2022, the digital assets bill was introduced to the Legislative Assembly, where Bukele's party, Nuevas Ideas, has a large majority.
At the meeting where sixty-two MPs voted, only sixteen people voted against the law and the law was adopted in January 2021.
At the same time, El Salvador launched a program called âFreedom VISAâ in recent weeks, granting residence permits to a thousand people who deposit at least $1 million a year in the bitcoin and tether (USDT) stablecoin.
