El Salvador To Add Bitcoin Bonds To Its Profitable Offer In 2024 – Forbes

SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – JANUARY 27: President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele speaks during an … [+] official visit from Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei at Presidential Palace on January 27, 2020 in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Photo by Camilo Freedman/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images)
El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender in 2021, putting itself in the center of the Bitcoin BTC community. They also announced the Bitcoin Bonds, but this product was delayed several times. But at the begining of December, the country’s Bitcoin Office announced regulatory approval to launch the bonds, which are expected to be in the market in the first quarter of 2024. A new bond will join the profitable offer that El Salvador has been serving during 2023.
When the Bitcoin Bonds were announced for the first time, they were different. The main idea was to receive $1B in investments and use the money for two main projects: 50% to create Bitcoin City in the Conchagua region and 50% to boost bitcoin mining activity in the country. The market was different then, with bitcoin and some cryptocurrencies’ prices rallying to new all-time highs. But then, everything started to tank, and so did the expectations around the bonds. The announcement was in November 2021.
Now, with a new Bitcoin halving just around the corner and the promise of a possible spot bitcoin ETF, the sentiment is optimistic enough to have the product ready to launch. According to the Bitcoin office, the bond received regulatory approval from the Digital Assets Commission. “We anticipate the bond will be issued during the first quarter 2024. This is just the beginning for new capital markets on Bitcoin in El Salvador,” the Bitcoin Office posted on X.
The launch of the Bitcoin Bonds is a new step in El Salvador’s Bitcoin strategy, which aims to make the country attractive enough for bitcoin holders worldwide. Before the bond announcement, the government of El Salvador also launched the Freedom Visa. This citizenship by-donation plan offers an easy path to becoming a Salvadorean for those willing to donate $1 million.
Beyond this new possible product, El Salvador bonds are among the most profitable in 2023, according to Bloomberg. How this success is related to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is still being determined. Still, the new reality of augmented security the country lives in is helping to boost its investment products. Sovereign bonds are paying between 5.5% and 9.75%. As Diario El Mundo reported in early November, the positive change in the bond’s rate by S&P Global Ratings also helped expand their price.
The positive performance of the bonds is not surprising to El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele. Early this year, Bukele addressed how traditional media was beating El Salvador’s default because it adopted bitcoin. In the end, they actually paid over $800 million.
“In the past year, almost every legacy international news outlet said that because of our “Bitcoin bet”, El Salvador was going to default on its debt by January 2023 (since we had an 800 million dollar bond maturing today),” Bukele posted on X after the debt payment was made in January.
There are no more details about the Bitcoin Bonds. Still, those interested in acquiring it must register in the Bitfinex Securities platform, a subsidiary of Bitfinex, my current employer.
More details on the acquisition and coupon processes are yet to be published.

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