Bitcoin in El Salvador, five years on.

In September 2021 El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender. Five years later the picture is neither the disaster nor the revolution that was forecast, and it is worth separating what happened from what was said about it.

What the law did

The 2021 Bitcoin Law made bitcoin legal tender alongside the dollar, required merchants to accept it where technically able, and launched Chivo Wallet with a $30 sign-up bonus. Roughly half the adult population downloaded it.

What happened next

Active use fell sharply after the bonus was spent. Surveys through 2022 and 2023 found low single-digit percentages using bitcoin for regular payments, and remittance volumes over crypto rails stayed marginal despite being the headline argument for the law.

Meanwhile the state kept buying, and the price recovery from 2023 onward moved the national position from a widely reported paper loss into profit.

The 2025 amendment

In January 2025, as a condition of a $1.4 billion IMF programme, the law was amended: merchant acceptance became voluntary, bitcoin was removed as a means of paying taxes, and the state’s role in Chivo was wound back. The government continued to announce purchases.

What it means on the ground

El Zonte — Bitcoin Beach, the donor-funded circular economy that predates the law, still works. The tienda, the barber and the pupusería take lightning payments without a fuss.

San Salvador — some hotels, some restaurants, some ATMs.

Everywhere else — dollars.

If you want to try it, load a lightning wallet with $50 and spend a day in El Zonte. It is the most interesting hour of economic tourism available anywhere, and it is not a payment system you should rely on for the rest of your trip.

The numbers, updated monthly, are on the bitcoin reserve page.