El Salvador’s Finance Minister says the country is “ready” to issue the first so-called Bitcoin bonds, but is still waiting for the right moment to do so. Central American countries previously estimated that they could issue $ 1 billion in bonds between March 15th and March 20th. Finance Minister Alejandro Zeraya said today that the government is ready to issue bonds, but is waiting for the right time. Zeraya does not mention the postponement of bond issuance.
“We are ready to do that,” Zeraya said in a local news interview. However, he said the El Salvadorian government is still waiting for President Nayib Bukele’s future.
When asked if it was the right time for the interviewer, he said, “I don’t think it’s yet. I think I’ll have to wait a few more days.” But he later revealed that this did not necessarily mean a few days from now. Mr Zeraya explained that he hopes that bond issuance will take place between March and April and by September due to market conditions.
“The market variations in May or June are a bit different. At the latest in September. It’s difficult to get into the international market after September,” he said.
Zeraya first mentioned that timing could be an issue when appearing on the same TV show on March 11 as the war in Ukraine is an unexpected factor affecting the international market. ..
In November 2021, Buquere announced plans to build a “Bitcoin City” funded by the sale of bonds. This is an annual coupon of 6.5%. He then said that half of the money would be used to store Bitcoin and the rest would be allocated to geothermal energy-powered infrastructure and Bitcoin mining.
However, Zeraya later revealed that the bonds would be issued by the state-owned thermal energy company La Geo, not by the government. But he said the bond has a sovereign guarantee provided by El Salvador.
When finally launched, El Salvador’s Bitcoin bonds will be issued by Blockstream. This is a Bitcoin infrastructure company that aims to expand Bitcoin adoption using the blockchain developer’s liquid protocol. Liquid Network is Bitcoin Layer 2 and enables the issuance of security tokens and other digital assets. Bonds can also be traded on the Bitfinex platform.
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