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🇸🇻 El Salvador

A purpose-built 0%-tax digital asset hub under a single dedicated regulator (CNAD), popular with stablecoin issuers and exchanges but carrying no international recognition and a diluted Bitcoin-legal-tender story post-IMF deal

Crypto (CASP / VASP) E-money (EMI)
Last verified 2026-08-15 Next review 2026-08-29

Data verified: oldest cell 46 days ago (verified 2026-07-02). Individual cells show their own verification date below.

Capital requirement Capital requirement is included with access. Included with access Timeline to authorisation Timeline to authorisation is included with access. Included with access Application cost Application cost is included with access. Included with access Passporting Passporting is included with access. Included with access

Licence type

Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) licence, locally 'Proveedor de Servicios de Activos Digitales' (PSAD), plus a separate Digital Asset Issuer / stablecoin issuer authorization, both under the Ley de Emisión de Activos Digitales (LEAD, enacted January 2023). DASP covers exchanges, custodians, wallet providers, brokers, OTC desks and token issuers under Article 19 of the law; issuers of digital assets/stablecoins register separately with CNAD.

Verified 2 days agoSource: CNAD official site: https://cnad.gob.sv/how-to-register/register-as-digital-assets-service-provider-dasp/ ; CNAD Legal Framework: https://cnad.gob.sv/documentation-library/legal-framework/

Regulator

Comisión Nacional de Activos Digitales (CNAD), National Digital Assets Commission, the sole competent authority for licensing, supervision and enforcement of digital asset issuers and service providers in El Salvador, created under LEAD (2023).

Verified 2 days agoSource: CNAD official site: https://cnad.gob.sv/ and https://cnad.gob.sv/the-commission/

Recent changes

(1) January-February 2025: Bitcoin Law amended to remove mandatory merchant acceptance and tax-payment use, as an IMF program condition; IMF Extended Fund Facility approved. (2) August 2024-January 2025: CNAD granted Tether a DASP licence and a stablecoin issuer-related authorization; Tether announced relocation of its group headquarters to El Salvador (January 2025). (3) Bitfinex Derivatives received a DASP licence (January 2025) and Bitfinex's core platform/securities arm expanded its CNAD-supervised licence coverage across spot and derivatives (reported May 2026). (4) Continued steady growth in DASP approvals through 2025-2026, including named entities such as B2BINPAY (November 2025), Freedx (April 2025) and Finprime.pro (October 2025), with Binance also reported to hold CNAD DASP authorization. (5) CNAD has begun processing stablecoin issuer registrations under its Public Offering of Stable Coins regulations, requiring three years of externally audited financial statements and publication of a 'Relevant Information Document' (DIR).

Verified 7 weeks agoSource: Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/02/28/el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-changes-to-secure-imf-funding/ ; CoinDesk: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/01/13/tether-group-to-establish-headquarters-in-el-salvador-in-emerging-markets-push ; Cryptonomist: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2026/05/12/bitfinex-el-salvador-licence-expands/ ; FinanceFeeds

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Not legal advice. Entries marked placeholder or awaiting verification shouldn't be relied on. Verify with El Salvador's regulator and qualified local counsel before acting.