El Salvador has voted to pass a bill that paves the way for President Nayib Bukele to issue bitcoin bonds.
The plan, announced in November 2021, will require El Salvador to issue $1 billion in bonds on the Blockstream Liquid Network, a federated Bitcoin sidechain. The purpose of the bond issuance is to invest half of the money into bitcoin, and the other half into the infrastructure necessary to build the bitcoin industry in the Central American country. The bond, according to the statement, will yield 6.5% and allow investors to obtain citizenship in the country.
Exactly one year after the announcement of the plan, the bill voted today was introduced by El Salvador’s Minister of Economy Maria Luisa Hayem Brevé to the country’s legislative assembly as the next step for this plan. With today’s agreement, the country is one step closer to making bitcoin bonds a reality.
El Salvador Bitcoin Office released a statement in response to the vote read in part, “Today El Salvador builds on our first advantage by passing a landmark law that creates a legal framework for all digital assets that are not bitcoin. The law also paves the way for the volcano bond to be launched.
In a statement for Bitcoin Magazine, Max Keiser, Bitcoin educator and advocate who is also the main supporter of El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption since the process began, stated that he believes “This is one of the most important milestones. Making Bitcoin legal tender in September, 2021 put El Salvador on the global financial map. This new law extends President Bukele’s mission by creating the foundation for a new layer of global digital securities built on Bitcoin.