El Salvador President Claims the County Has More Bitcoin Wallets Than Bank Accounts

By Prashant Jha
Updated June 4, 2025
El Salvador president

El Salvador continues to make history with its Bitcoin after formally adopting BTC as legal tender in September this year. Nayib Bukele, the President of the country and one of the key architects behind El Salvador’s historic decision revealed that the number of people using Bitcoin wallets in the country has exceeded the number of people using bank accounts.

The small Central American nation was heavily criticized for its BTC adoption and everyone warned about the consequences. However, President Bukele has made it clear that the adoption is not a mere advertisement and PR stunt, rather it was done to ensure banking facilities to more than 70% unbanked population. The adoption came through many challenges which involved some violent protests as well, but now it seems the country is already reaping the rewards of adopting Bitcoin.

President Bukele has been working to add new services and features around Bitcoin, and the country is already seeing millions in remittance on a daily basis via hundreds of Bitcoin ATMs. Bukele also started buying Bitcoin dips from the treasury and bought over 800 Bitcoin over the past couple of months when the BTC price was trading in the $30K-$40K price range. Now that the price of the top cryptocurrency has nearly doubled, the profits from their BTC holdings are being used to build hospitals and schools.

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Will Others Follow Looking at El Salvador’s Success?

Many other nations suffering from financial instability, inflation, and international sanctions have hinted at following El Salvador’s path. However, no other country has decided to make it a legal tender again despite some legalizing crypto use in their financial ecosystem. El Salvador has become a glaring example of Bitcoin’s success story and if things go as planned, it would become one of the most sustainable and prosperous places to live in.

The world superpower nations have also decided to frame new rules and regulations around Bitcoin and the crypto market after failing to ban it. Apart from China, most other formidable nations have made it clear that they have no intention of outright banning Bitcoin.

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Prashant Jha
An engineering graduate, Prashant focuses on UK and Indian markets. As a crypto-journalist, his interests lie in blockchain technology adoption across emerging economies.
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