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Bitfinex Becomes First Firm to Get El Salvador's New Digital Asset License

Tim Fries

Published: April 12, 2023 3:15 am

Last Updated: April 12, 2023 12:16 pm

According to a press release from Tuesday, April 11th, Bitfinex Securities—the part of Bitfinex focused on the issuing of tokenized shares—recently acquired a new kind of digital assets-related license in El Salvador. The company is the first-ever to receive the license as it was introduced by lawmakers as recently as this January.

Bitfinex Receives License Under El Salvador’s Newest Digital Assets Bill

This Tuesday, Bitfinex announced that its Bitfinex Securities recently acquired a new license from the government of El Salvador. The license is made available thanks to a bill the country passed in January of this year. The Digital Assets Issuance Bill was at the time of passing described as a way for El Salvador to create a stable legal framework for the use of digital assets in public issuance offers.

Bitfinex Securities is the first company to receive the license from the South American country best known as the first to have adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021. The goal of the cryptocurrency company’s El Salvador entity is to, according to the press release, “enable the issuance and trading of innovative real-world tokenized assets such as equities and bonds”.

Bitfinex’s CTO, Paolo Ardoino commented on the development on Twitter stating that it will enable companies seeking to invest in various forms of innovation to raise capital through tokenized securities. He added that it is particularly significant for countries based outside of the US and the EU as they, up until now, didn’t have access to markets with deep liquidity when attempting to raise capital.

South America’s Emergence as a Cryptocurrency Hub

Considering the ongoing trend for cryptocurrency-positivity in South America, the most recent development with Bitfinex does not come as much of a surprise. Across the continent, countries have been working with domestic and international firms to help boost digital asset adoption and blockchain technology innovation.

While El Salvador attracted a lot of attention, both positive and negative, for its adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, and commitment to acquiring more of the cryptocurrency even during the “crypto winter”, nations across the region have been working on their digital assets infrastructure. Some local blockchain firms like Argentina’s Ripio, have even managed to take the road less traveled and recently expanded from their native country into the US market.

At the same time, the authorities in North America have proven, for the most part, far less accommodating of the developments in the digital assets industry. Regulators in the US have been notably tough on the sector, and are even rumored to be seeking to ban major services like crypto staking. Similarly, Canada recently increased requirements for cryptocurrency companies sparking fears that many important players would leave the market.

Do you think Bitinex’s new license will help innovative firms from outside the US and EU find greater success? Let us know in the comments below.

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This article originally appeared on The Tokenist