El Salvador will begin issuing citizenship for $1 million investments in the form of BTC and USDT

What’s new? The government of El Salvador has launched a visa program in conjunction with the USDT stablecoin issuer, Tether, aimed at shaping the country’s new socio-economic landscape by developing it as a popular international tourism destination and a hub for financial innovation. The Adopting El Salvador Freedom Visa Program will allow individuals to obtain citizenship in the country provided they invest $1 million in bitcoins or USDT in the local economy.

Tether’s press release

What else is known? The plan is to allocate 1000 visas annually to the program, which will allow holders to qualify for citizenship. To participate, one must go through the identification procedure (KYC) and send a deposit of $999 in BTC or USDT, which if successfully verified will be deposited into an investment account. The participant must then send the remainder of the funds to the account to bring the total deposit amount to $1 million.

Family applications are also allowed, in which case the applicant’s spouse, their children, and other dependent relatives can also apply for the visa and citizenship.

If all slots are filled, El Salvador will attract $1 billion in cryptocurrencies in the first year of the project alone. According to the information on the official website, the funds received from investors will be used for economic, cultural, and social government programs.

The visa program is not the first joint project of Tether and the authorities of El Salvador. Thus, back in July last year, Tether-affiliated crypto exchange Bitfinex donated $1,3 million in BTC and USDT to small businesses in the country. In April this year, it became the first licensed exchange in El Salvador.

In June, Tether joined a local project to build a $1 billion bitcoin mining data center.

Bitcoin has been legal tender in El Salvador since 2021. This September, the country’s leading banks, Cuscatlan and Agricola, began accepting the asset to repay loans.

The country’s government also regularly invests in the first cryptocurrency and has been buying one coin every day since mid-November last year. The recent appreciation of the asset has seen these investments come out to a plus of over $3,6 million.

Tether is also the BTC holder, its unrealized gains on investments have exceeded $1,1 billion.