Launching Soon: El Salvador’s Donation-Based Citizenship Program ‘Freedom Visa’ Expected in Early 2024
El Salvador, known for its groundbreaking embrace of Bitcoin as legal tender, is now set to bolster its tourism sector and economic landscape with an innovative strategy. The country’s National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) recently unveiled an ambitious initiative named the Freedom Visa. This initiative follows a period of relative quiet from El Salvador, which has been actively developing a tax-exempt, geothermally powered Bitcoin city.
The Freedom Visa program is designed as a donation-based citizenship offering. Under this program, El Salvador will issue residency visas to individuals contributing a million dollars’ worth of Bitcoin or Tether to the national treasury. The Salvadoran government has forged a collaboration with stablecoin issuer Tether, marking a significant milestone announced earlier this month in an official statement.
Each year, the country will give out only a thousand slots, the government under President Nayib Bukele has decided. The country is looking to leverage its status as a pro-Bitcoin nation, to propel its special citizenship visa plan to the masses.
“Based on the current level of interest, we expect the program to sell out by the end of the year. If anything, in fact, it is actually underpriced. While there are many citizenship programs available in the world, there is only one Bitcoin country,” a CoinTelegraph report quoted the ONBTC as saying in an email conversation.
Reacting to the development, market analyst Alistair Milne called the Salvadoran initiative rather ‘uncompetitive’ comparing to other similar initiatives. Milne is the chief investment officer of Altana Digital Currency Fund.
It’s now a matter of time before the programme unfolds and we see how lucrative it ended up becoming and whether or not there will be a next edition to it.
El Salvador recently approved Bitcoin bonds that are set to be offered on Bitfinex Securities, a regulated division of crypto exchange Bitfinex, starting early 2024.
In a move to bolster its economy, El Salvador introduced the ‘Volcano bonds’ initiative back in 2021. These bonds allow residents of the country to participate with a minimum investment of $100 (approximately Rs. 8,170). The Volcano Bonds aim to contribute to the nation’s economic growth, with any rise in Bitcoin’s value resulting in shared benefits for the bondholders.