The first digital debt offering registered in El Salvador has reportedly failed to gather the necessary interest to continue. The issuance, intermediated by Bitfinex Securities to build a Hilton hotel at El Salvador International Airport, raised $342,000 from interested investors, less than the $500,000 needed to continue before the first established deadline. Bitfinex Securities stated that it expects the issuer to restructure the offer.

First Digital Debt Offering Fails to Pick up Steam in El Salvador

The first tokenized debt offering in El Salvador has failed. According to reports, the first issuance of debt using tokens in El Salvador has not picked up the interest that the issuer expected, failing to raise the funds needed to continue with the second phase of this process. Bitfinex Securities, a company that received the first license to issue digital assets securities in the country, reportedly declared that only $342,000 was raised, falling short of the $500,000 needed for the issuer to continue with the second phase.

The instrument sought funding for building a Hilton-branded hotel at El Salvador International Airport, issued by Inversiones Laguardia. The issuer aimed to raise $6.25 million to develop a hotel of over 80 rooms in a 4,484 square meters facility. Nonetheless, it only attracted a little over 5% of the final goal.

Bitfinex Securities stated that they would be returning the funds delivered by current investors, and expect the issuer to restructure the offering to be more appealing to potential investors. Depending on the allocation size, Inversiones Laguardia offered free hotel nights to investors. Participants had to invest from $1,000 and up.

While this issuance was praised by Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, stating that it represented an “important step forward in developing its nascent capital market as well as introducing a major new asset class into the market,” its poor performance might be an indicator of the real demand behind these digital instruments.

El Salvador still has not issued the so-called “volcano bonds,” a debt instrument to finance the construction of Bitcoin City, the Bitcoin-led metropolis powered by geothermal energy.

Source : Bitcoin News - Jul 7, 2024