For years now, El Salvador has been making considerable efforts to become Latin America’s crypto hub; two and a half years later, after adopting Bitcoin as a legal currency, El Salvador revealed that it had granted Bitfinex Securities licence to offer digital asset services in the country.

Overview

In January 2024, Bitfinex Securities revealed on its website the launch of Bitfinex Securities El Salvador SA, making Bitfinex Securities the first registered and licensed digital asset service provider to launch in El Salvador. In April 2023, El Salvador approved the Digital Asset Securities Law, which led to Bitfinex Securities applying for and receiving approval for the first digital assets licence under this regulatory framework. Bitfinex Securities is officially launching its platform following El Salvador’s government’s finalisation of crucial regulations and infrastructure surrounding the digital asset regime last year. 

The company revealed its expectations on demand for regulated digital investment services following the successful launch of the first spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETF) by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier in January. President of the National Commission of Digital Assets (NCDA), Juan Carlos Reyes, said:

“This new law carved out digital assets regulation from the traditional financial regulator and created the national commission of digital assets, that oversees the supervision and regulation of the ecosystem.” 

The NCDA Chair recalled the positive experience and praised the firm for its high regulatory standards and world-class compliance knowledge. With the new launch, Bitfinex Securities aims to introduce a pipeline of various products, including equity and bond-like issuances, which are expected to be announced in the coming months. 

Bitcoin ETF Approval Provides an Optimistic Outlook

The launch of Bitfinex Securities in El Salvador plans to assist the firm in increasing its presence in Central and South America. The head of operation suggested that the platform has been available to individual and institutional investors worldwide, except for sanctioned jurisdictions. Knutson highlighted that El Salvador has progressed since adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2021.

3 minutos para hacer historia.

In 3 minutes, we make history.#BitcoinDay #BTC

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) September 7, 2021

He said, “El Salvador’s financial performance has also exceeded regional peers and expectations since Q4 2021, which has been partly supported by Bitcoin-driven investment and tourism into El Salvador.” 

Chief Technology Officer of Bitfinex Securities, Paolo Ardoino, revealed his anticipation about being part of a financial change.

Ardoino said, “We are delighted to be able to announce the launch of Bitfinex Securities in El Salvador. This is not only an important market for Bitfinex given its adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender and the fostering of a Bitcoin-based economy, but it also allows El Salvador to attract global investment flows, as issuers put out competitively priced securities offerings.”

 Bitfinex’s Crypto-Timeline

Bitfinex was established in 2012 and has since been a leader in digital token trading, offering advanced trading features and financial tools for traders and liquidity providers globally. In March 2022, Bitfinex Securities debuted trading under the supervision of Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), which is under a separate jurisdiction and regulatory oversight. Users seeking to access all Bitfinex Securities issuance must be verified with both entities to access future issuance on Bitfinex El Salvador. Bitfinex Securities Ltd. provides a regulated, effective global solution for capital raising via tokenised corporation shares.

In September 2021, Bitfinex Securities was launched to apply the technological benefits of the digital asset industry to international capital markets. The platform started trading with the Blockstream Mining Note (BMN), offering more efficient, cheaper, and easier interaction between investors and issuers in Bitcoin mining stocks. Over the past few months, Bitfinex Securities has seen a slow adoption.