El Salvador Financial News

More than two years after implementing Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, El Salvador’s big crypto bet is still struggling to bear fruit.

Tether and Bitfinex have jointly agreed to drop initial opposition to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request lodged in New York by a number of high-profile news publications.

By Tito Correa, Nyasha Chingono and Miguel Lo Bianco

On Sunday, the Libertarian Party's Javier Milei was elected as the new president of Argentina.Milei has spoken positively about bitcoin in the past, and the price of the crypto asset rose to roughly $37,500 as Milei's opponent in the runoff election conceded defeat.

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China's growing influence across Central America. With the Chinese ambassador at his side, Bukele toured the seven-story building, erected at a cost of $54 million paid for by China. The building sprawls over 24,000 square meters (260,000 square feet), and contains gamer and robotics areas, interactive digital screens and both a digital library and shelves containing 360,000 books, the government said on Tuesday. A day later, the son of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Laureano Ortega, inspected 250 Chinese-made buses and thanked Beijing for the «special relationship» he asserted was lifting the nation out of poverty. «The new politics of the region has accelerated China's influence and put distance between the United States and Central America, from the leftist authoritarian Ortega regime to the right-wing authoritarian Bukele regime,» Evan Ellis, a researcher at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, told AFP. Since Costa Rica switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 2007, China has steadily gained ground in Central America, establishing relations with Panama (2017), El Salvador (2018), Nicaragua (2021) and most recently Honduras earlier this year. «China's efforts in Central America have mostly been driven by an interest in isolating Taiwan,» Margaret Myers, a specialist in China and Latin America at the Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP. In Central America, only Guatemala and Belize are among the dwindling 13 nations that still maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a self-governing island that China considers part of its territory.

Bitcoin (BTC) wallet and payment platform Strike has partnered with Checkout.com to enable debit-card-based Bitcoin purchases in over 65 countries.

Bitcoin ATM users in Argentina can now use the Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning Network, following similar developments earlier this month in El Salvador.

Graphic detail page. ON JULY 24TH a buoy in the Manatee Bay off Florida’s southern tip measured a record-breaking sea-surface temperature of more than 101F (38°C). Normally, you’d need to take a bath to immerse yourself in water of that temperature.

Tether is planning a large-scale expansion into Bitcoin (BTC) mining, according to Paolo Ardoino, who is expected to take the helm at the company soon. 

Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, aims to invest half a billion dollars to become one of the world’s leading Bitcoin miners. 

El Salvador’s government has begun slapping a $1,130 fee on travelers from dozens of countries connecting through the nation’s main airport

El Salvador has introduced a $1,130 fee on travelers from 57 countries, including India, passing through its main airport. This measure, enforced since the end of October, has drawn attention due to its timing amid increasing pressure from the United States to manage migration flows heading towards its southern border. El Salvador's aviation authority has labeled the fee as an «airport improvement fee,» but the motive behind it remains unclear. Notably, the US has been urging Central American nations to take steps to control the flow of migrants reaching its border with Mexico. While El Salvador has not explicitly linked the fee to migration control, the country has acknowledged a rise in travelers from the specified nations this year. Most affected passengers are destined for Nicaragua, primarily on Avianca, a commercial airline. Nicaragua, with its lenient visa requirements, serves as a transit point for migrants from Haiti, Cuba, and Africa, aiming to reach the US. Earlier this year, an unexpected increase in migrants from Mauritania arriving at the US southern border puzzled officials. Investigations revealed travel agencies and social media influencers promoting routes through Morocco, Spain, and El Salvador before reaching Nicaragua. El Salvador's aviation authority and immigration agency lack specific data on the number of migrants from the listed countries transiting the country in 2023. The US embassy has not confirmed if it played a role in requesting the fee.

Athena Bitcoin has announced plans to integrate the Lightning Network into its crypto ATM fleet in El Salvador with wider expansion targeted at the entire Latin American region.

Athena Bitcoin, the company operating a state-owned chain of crypto ATMs in El Salvador, plans to integrate the Lightning Network into 100 of these machines in the next couple of months.

Panama's president has signed into law an indefinite moratorium on new mining concessions

An investigation has exposed how El Salvador’s government misallocated a large portion of a COVID-19 relief loan to fund its controversial Bitcoin project.

Incoming investment capital and immigration will lead to a major economic shift that will turn El Salvador into a financial center, argued Gabor Gurbacs, strategy adviser of investment management giant VanEck.

El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele has formally filed for re-election in next year’s polls, a move critics say is against the country’s constitution.

In the world of cryptocurrency, excitement continues to ripple through the market as Bitcoin holds steady at $34,274, registering a 0.75% increase on this Monday.

El Salvador president Nayib Bukele has filed paperwork to be re-elected in the country’s upcoming 2024 presidential election in February.