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(Kitco News) -
El Salvador has issued its first-ever Digital Asset Service Provider license to Bitfinex Securities, the company announced Tuesday afternoon.
“We are delighted to be the first company to be awarded this licence”, said Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer of the Bitfinex group. “It will enable Bitfinex Securities to facilitate the issuance and secondary trading of assets with clearly defined rights and obligations as outlined in the new digital asset regulatory regime.”
El Salvador’s Congress voted in favor of the Digital Assets Issuance bill on Jan. 11 by a comfortable majority, with 62 members voting for the bill and 16 voting against it, paving the way for the issuance of the country’s first round of ‘volcano bonds’ to pay down foreign debt and build up the ‘Bitcoin City’ investment haven.
The digital securities bill, which was introduced by Minister of the Economy Maria Luisa Hayem Brevé on Nov. 22, creates the framework for the legalization of all cryptocurrencies in El Salvador, separating crypto from other financial assets and establishing a distinct set of regulations to govern them.
Bitfinex Securities El Salvador is a newly-formed entity which will operate separately from the Bitfinex group’s existing platform, Bitfinex Securities AIFC, which was established in 2021. The El Salvador firm is a fully-regulated digital asset exchange that will enable the issuance and trading of innovative real-world tokenized assets such as equities and bonds.
“It means that a whole range of entities, from small companies to governments, can raise capital in a regulated environment, and tap into a class of investors that are extremely comfortable with crypto assets and tokenized securities, which represents a market of over $1 trillion with a peak of $3 trillion,” Ardoino said.
Kitco News recently spoke with Jesse Knutson, Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities, who said he believes that Security Token Offerings represent the next major evolution in capital markets, and much of the innovation and growth in the sector will be driven by newer financial jurisdictions. “Why can't El Salvador be like the Singapore, the Hong Kong of Latin America? Why can't the AFIC be the Singapore or Hong Kong of Central Asia? I think it's completely doable,” he said.
El Salvador was the first country in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender when they announced the adoption of the cryptocurrency in June 2021.
