Crypto exchange Bitfinex-owned newly established entity, Bitfinex Securities El Salvador, today announced it has become the first licensed digital asset service provider (DASP) in El Salvador.
The new license follows the passing of the Digital Asset Issuance Law from January 2023 in El Salvador, the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as ledger tender.
Bitfinex, which was established in December 2012, announced on Tuesday the acquisition of the authorization from El Salvador’s National Digital Asset Commission, describing it as a “significant new milestone” for the crypto exchange.
Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer of the Bitfinex group, said:
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.
The new DASP license in El Salvador allows Bitfinex Securities El Salvador to issue and trade tokenized assets such as equities and bonds on its platform.
Jesse Knutson, Head of Operations at Bitfinex Securities, highlighted that the platform sees a “considerable demand” from both issuers, as well as investors for products such as tokenized shares, yield-bearing assets and other investment products which has been made possible under the new El Salvadoran law.
He added:
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.
