El Salvador's government has announced a visa program that will grant foreigners passports and residency if they invest $1 million in Bitcoin or Tether into the tiny Central American country.
The “independence visa” program is for high-net-worth individuals or investors who want to be part of a “commitment to building the nation's future,” according to the government's website.
Salvadoran President Naib Bookele made the announcement on X – formerly Twitter – on Thursday. The program is in partnership with Tether, the company behind the cryptocurrency USDT.
The government website says: “El Salvador was reborn as the land of economic freedom. But this is just the beginning. Come help us build the future you want to see.
El Salvador's proposal is known as the “Golden Visa” program. Countries around the world like Spain, Portugal and Ireland award visas to people with generous investments.
Stablecoin issuer Tether said on Thursday that the program will help establish El Salvador “as a dynamic global center for innovative technology and financial innovations.”
The company's USDT product is the most widely traded cryptocurrency and is pegged to the US dollar—a digital token widely used by traders.
Tether has worked with the Salvadoran government in the past: helping Lugano, Switzerland become a crypto hub, and investing $1 billion in the country for a renewable energy Bitcoin mining initiative.
The visa scheme will invite 1,000 applicants and contribute $1 million to the country for economic development, cultural enrichment and social programs aimed at bringing about greater economic development and regeneration.
Then applicants will be awarded a passport and residence permit.
El Salvador In 2021, Bitcoin became legal tender in the country. Businesses are legally obligated to accept cryptocurrency if they have the technological means to do so.
The country's president, Naib Bukele, proposed the idea and used the country's treasury to buy virtual coins. His proposal was condemned by the US government and economists. And in May, as BRC-20 tokens rose in popularity on the Bitcoin network, some suggested that Salvadorans would no longer be able to use the asset for day-to-day transactions.
But Buckele took a victory lap on social media earlier this week, saying the recent BTC rally in El Salvador helped make his holdings profitable. While Bitcoin adoption is a controversial proposition, there's no doubt that Bukele is a popular leader: Salvadorans praise him for cleaning up an already crime-ridden and deadly country.
But human rights groups have criticized the crackdown on gangs, which Amnesty International this week described as “repressive security policies and a weakening of the rule of law”.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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