Bitfinex completes El Salvador licence set across three markets

Bitfinex Derivatives followed with its own Digital Asset Service Provider approval in January 2025. The licensed entity became the regional base for the group’s derivatives activity. Users continuing with the service had to accept revised terms tied to the Salvadoran operation.

El Salvador adopted its Digital Assets Issuance Law in 2023, creating a framework for token issuance, service providers and regulated trading venues. CNAD oversees the sector and maintains a public registry of approved operators, including exchanges, custodians, issuers and companies offering investment products based on digital assets.

Bitfinex said CNAD had licensed more than 70 digital asset service providers by the time of its May announcement. The registry also includes Binance, Bitget and other international firms. Those approvals cover separate entities and permitted activities, rather than one uniform licence for every crypto service.

The country has expanded its rules beyond exchanges. El Salvador approved an investment banking framework allowing specialized institutions to offer Bitcoin and other digital asset services. The country has explored tokenized small-business equity and cross-border regulatory projects.

Bitfinex has positioned El Salvador as a base for both trading and tokenized capital markets. Its securities business has worked on products linked to U.S. Treasuries, corporate financing and real-world assets. The group has partnered with Tether-related infrastructure to study wider distribution and secondary-market liquidity for tokenized investments.

The latest licence gives the core exchange a local authorization alongside those existing businesses. It allows Bitfinex to present one jurisdiction as covering spot trading through the main platform and derivatives through its dedicated entity. The securities business operates under its own licence.

The announcement did not provide local customer numbers or a timetable for new products. It also did not state whether operations will move from other jurisdictions to El Salvador. The immediate change concerns the regulated status of the core platform and its ability to offer approved services through registered local entities.

Bitfinex’s expansion comes as other crypto companies build operations in El Salvador. Tether announced plans in 2025 to establish its headquarters in the country after securing local approval, while Bitget obtained both Bitcoin and digital asset service licences.

The licence completes Bitfinex’s stated regulatory footprint in El Salvador. Continued operation depends on CNAD supervision and customer checks. The rules attached to each entity also apply. The two Bitfinex-linked entities remain registered under PSAD-0082 and PSAD-0083 in the CNAD database.