The approval adds the core exchange to Bitfinex’s existing Salvadoran securities and derivatives entities, giving the group regulated local coverage across three business lines.
Bitfinex said it has obtained a Digital Asset Service Provider licence in El Salvador, giving it regulated local coverage across spot trading, crypto derivatives and tokenized securities. The approval adds the core Bitfinex platform to Bitfinex Securities El Salvador and Bitfinex Derivatives El Salvador, rounding out the group’s licensed structure in a market it views as central to its Latin American strategy. The exchange announced the approval on May 12 after El Salvador’s National Commission of Digital Assets, or CNAD (digital asset regulator), registered two Bitfinex-linked entities on April 23. CNAD’s public registry lists BFXNA El Salvador under PSAD-0082 and BFXWW El Salvador under PSAD-0083, with permissions including digital-asset exchange, trading platform operation, asset transfers, custody, receipt of client orders and execution of digital-asset derivatives trades. Bitfinex chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino said the group’s licences across spot, derivatives and securities reflect its long-term commitment to the country and to operating under what he called proper and innovative supervision. The company said the new approval deepens its regulatory base for serving customers across Latin America, though access to products will still depend on eligibility, location and platform terms. U.S. persons and other prohibited users remain unable to open or operate accounts on the main platform. The move builds on earlier approvals in the country. Bitfinex Securities was registered under PSAD-0001 on Oct. 24, 2023, becoming the first platform approved under El Salvador’s Digital Assets Issuance Law, while Bitfinex Derivatives received its own approval in January 2025. El Salvador has used that 2023 law to build a wider framework for token issuance, trading venues and service providers, with CNAD maintaining a public registry of approved operators. Bitfinex said more than 70 digital asset service providers had been licensed by the time of its May announcement. The licence completes Bitfinex’s stated regulatory footprint in El Salvador, but future products and ongoing operations remain subject to CNAD supervision, customer checks and entity-specific restrictions.