- New licence an historic victory for financial freedom in Latin America & beyond
Bitfinex Securities El Salvador S.A. de C.V. (“Bitfinex Securities El Salvador”), a fully-regulated digital asset exchange that will enable the issuance and trading of innovative real-world tokenized assets such as equities and bonds, has become the world’s first international digital asset platform to receive approval to be licenced as a Digital Asset Service Provider under El Salvador’s ground-breaking new Digital Assets Issuance Law (“Ley de Emisión de Activos Digitales”).
Officially granted today by El Salvador’s National Digital Asset Commission, the new licence marks a significant new milestone for Bitfinex in its long-term strategy to deliver financial freedom and inclusion to communities and countries around the world, as outlined in the Bitfinex Freedom Manifesto.
“We are delighted to be the first company to be awarded this licence. 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”, said Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer of the Bitfinex group.
“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.”
Passed by El Salvador’s National Congress in January 2023, the Digital Asset Issuance Law aims to foster increased financial innovation and growth in the Central American country. As the world’s first nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, El Salvador is now building on this foundation, paving the way for a more inclusive and accessible financial environment for both foreign and domestic companies, as well as retail and institutional investors.
“We see considerable demand both from issuers and investors for the products made possible under the new regulations, which include tokenized shares, yield-bearing assets, and other investment products,” said Jesse Knutson, Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities.
“Issuers are eager to access the digital asset market, attracted by the speed, cost efficiencies and ease of issuance compared to traditional assets. The digital asset market is a market which, at over $1 trillion in size, is still in its infancy, but is growing tremendously quickly.”
