El Salvador is about to launch a new kind of Bitcoin banks. These institutions will will offer Bitcoin investors access to financial services and fewer restrictions compared to traditional banks.
Pro-Bitcoin president Nayib Bukele announced the project of BPI (Bank for Private Investment). The new kind of banks will offer financing options to potential investors in U.S. Dollars and Bitcoin.
BPI will have a slightly different regulation than traditional banks have. Such restrictions as engaging with overseas banks or finance companies "linked to their shareholders or in a business group" or loan restrictions will be eliminated.
Also BPIs will also not be subject to the prohibition of "granting credit or assuming risks for more than 25% of their Asset Fund in relation to the same person.”
A minimum share capital for a BPI would be $50 million. Having at least two shareholders is a must.
The announcement comes only two weeks after Bukele was sworn in for another five-year presidential term after winning the elections in February.
“President Bukele hits the ground running in new term with new legislation establishing a Bitcoin Bank,” senior Bitcoin advisor to Bukele, Max Keiser, said in his X post.
Keiser also noted that Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood’s forecast that El Salvador’s real GDP “could scale 10-fold during the next five years” has only become “more likely.”
BPIs have yet to be approved by El Salvador legislators. If that happens, the small country will once again prove to be the real giant of the crypto world.