Bitfinex to Refund Investors in Failed El Salvador Hotel Project

Bitfinex Securities has announced plans to refund all investors involved in the construction of the Hampton by Hilton hotel complex at El Salvador’s international airport, as reported by Cointelegraph.

The company failed to secure the minimum required funding of $500,000 to proceed. The project raised only $342,000, which is less than 5.5% of the initially planned $6.25 million.

Bitfinex noted that they are currently considering debt restructuring to preserve the initiative. Should this fail, investors will receive refunds.

In April, Bitfinex announced plans to tokenize the hotel construction in El Salvador. The platform issued tokenized debt obligations. The product is managed by Inversiones Laguardia SA de CV.

“HILSV marks the first tokenization of digital assets in El Salvador and represents an important step in the development of the emerging market, as well as the emergence of a new major asset class,” stated Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino at the time.

The company also anticipated creating 1,000 jobs during the construction phase and up to 5,000 during its operation.

Back in February, Nayib Bukele was re-elected as President of El Salvador. He pledged to continue his bitcoin strategy. In June, the head of state proposed establishing private banks for crypto investors.

In May, ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicted a tenfold increase in El Salvador’s GDP thanks to bitcoin.