According to El Salvador's finance minister, they are expecting to go live with the first Bitcoin bond between March 15th and 20th. They said the war in Ukraine has played a part in their timing, as they are trying to issue the bond at the best time possible. Per previous reports, there has already been $500 million in soft committals for the $1 billion bond. If the bond is oversubscribed, expect El Salvador to roll out subsequent Bitcoin bonds. This bond will be issued through a partnership with Bitfinex and Liquid and will be a tokenized security through the Liquid network. Half of the proceeds from the bond will be used to buy bitcoin, and half will be used to fund El Salvador's Bitcoin mining operation that will utilize the abundant geothermal energy in the country. As the geopolitical and macroeconomic situation is very uncertain at this time, I would expect buyers to flock to this bond, as it ensures guarantees a 6.5% coupon with a 10 year maturation on the bond, in which bond holders will receive a 50% payout of the value of the bitcoin in the bond holdings. This helps individuals who buy the bond escape some of the short term volatility of bitcoin's price, while reaping the benefits of bitcoin's long term price appreciation.
The SEC denied NYDIG's Bitcoin Spot ETF application
While nearly every other developed nation, including Canada has an approved Bitcoin spot ETF, this denial comes in a string of denials by the SEC for a US Bitcoin spot ETF. This ETF was given extra opportunity, as the SEC extended its review period to allow for comments on NYDIG's produce, but to no one's surprise, SEC chair Gensler denied the application dated from March 10th. At this point, it's unclear who Gensler is protecting from this spot ETF product, but I wouldn't expect a spot ETF approval in the United States anytime soon.
UK Financial regulators have deemed Bitcoin ATM's "illegal"
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned operators in the U.K. to shutdown their machines or face enforcement. It appears that none of the crypto-asset firms registered with the FCA has been approved to offer crypto ATM services.
This doesn't mean Bitcoin ATMs will be permanently illegal in the U.K., it just means that they will have to comply with anti-money laundering laws (AML) and likely require stricter KYC to be approved for operation.
This is another instance where creeping KYC continues to slowly spread. As explained through our Non-Kyc article , these creeping regulations have long-term privacy implications. If more people do not learn about better privacy practices, they may be putting themselves and bitcoin fungibility at risk.
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