El Salvador voted to pass a bill that paves the way for President Nayib Bukele’s issuance of bitcoin bonds.
The plan, which was announced in November 2021, would see El Salvador issue $1 billion in bonds on Blockstream’s Liquid Network, a federated Bitcoin sidechain. The objective of the bond issue would be to invest half of the money in bitcoin and the other half in the necessary infrastructure to develop the bitcoin industry in the Central American country. The bonds, according to the statement at the time, would yield 6.5% and allow a fast track for investors to acquire citizenship in the country.
Exactly one year after the announcement of the plan, the bill voted on today was presented by El Salvador’s Minister of Economy, María Luisa Hayem Brevé, to the country’s legislative assembly as the next step towards this plan. With today’s approval, the country is that much closer to making bitcoin bonds a reality.
El Salvador Bitcoin Office published a statement in response to the vote that read in part: “Today, El Salvador is building on our first-mover advantage by passing landmark legislation that establishes a legal framework for all digital assets other than bitcoin. The law also paves the way for the volcano bonds that we will soon begin issuing.”
In a statement to Bitcoin Magazine, Max Keizer, a Bitcoin educator and advocate who has also been a leading advocate for Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador since the process began, states that he believes “This is one of the milestones most important so far. Making Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021 put El Salvador on the world financial map. This new law furthers the mission of President Bukele by establishing a foundation for a new global layer of digital securities based on Bitcoin.”
