El Salvador President Confirms BTC Bonds Will Be Issued via Bitfinex

After delays and speculation involving El Salvador’s BTC Bonds, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele confirmed the issuance of the bonds.

On his Twitter account, Bukele reported that the so-called Volcano Bonds will be issued by cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

The news comes after information that Bukele would be looking to Binance for the issuance of the bonds.

BTC Bond Issuance Confirmed

According to the Minister of Finance of El Salvador, Alejandro Zelaya, the bonds would be launched between the 15th and 20th of March.

However, March 20th arrived and no official announcement was made. Then, on March 22, it was reported that the bonds would be issued by the country’s state-owned geothermal energy company LaGeo.

The information was not confirmed and the rumors continued. Last Wednesday (23), Reuters reported that the country had turned to the Binance exchange for help in issuing the bonds. The Reuters publication was based on statements by Minister Zelaya himself, who stated:

“In terms of issuing BTC bonds, we are ready to do so. We wait for the right moment and for the president to say ‘yes, let’s do this now’. I don’t think it’s time yet, we have to wait a few more days…”, he said.

Bukele even confirmed the meeting with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, the CZ. But he said it was to deal with other matters:

“I will meet with @cz_binance tomorrow to discuss OTHER issues, not Volcano Bonds. Unless he wants to buy it, of course.” published the president on Wednesday (23).

Finally, this Thursday, Bukele took to Twitter to ask them not to believe in Reuters’ FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Instead, he praised the Twitter page covering the crypto market @BitcoinMagazine and explained the reason for the delay:

I’m a fan of @BitcoinMagazine, please don’t spread @Reuters FUD.

The #Bitcoin Volcano Bonds 🌋 will be issued with @bitfinex.

The short delay in the issuance is only because we are prioritizing internal pension reform and we have to send that to congress before. https://t.co/chUGgdDBDc

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 23, 2022

Although he confirmed the issuance, Bukele did not provide a precise date for it to happen.

What are BTC Bonds?

After adopting BTC as legal tender in September 2021, El Salvador announced in November that the country would issue up to $1 billion in BTC-backed securities.

These are bonds that will pay annual interest of 6.5%. Half of the amount raised from the sale of bonds will be used to finance the construction of Bitcoin City. In the meantime, the rest will go towards buying BTC for the country’s cashiers.

In addition to the annual income, the Salvadoran government will pay dividends on the profit made from operations with the cryptocurrency.