El Salvador Issues First License to Bitfinex

El Salvador officially recognized Bitcoin as a valid form of payment in 2021, with President Nayib Bukele expressing his support for the new law by declaring his intention to hoard the cryptocurrency.

This milestone event has sparked the first cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex, to earn the status of a Virtual Service Provider (VASP) from the El Salvadoran authorities.

Partnering with the country’s authorities, Bitfinex will work to develop infrastructure and popularize BTC payments in El Salvador.

With this registration, the trading platform will be able to draw in investors from the local market as well as interact with counterparties under the control of the regulator.

Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino noted that the license granted by the National Commission for Digital Assets of El Salvador will allow the crypto company to do just that.