section_path: Presidency/Economy/Adoption of bitcoin
section_name: Adoption of bitcoin
paragraph_text: Adoption of bitcoin
  
  Bukele announced at the Bitcoin 2021 conference on 5 June 2021 that he would introduce a bill to the Legislative Assembly that would make bitcoin legal tender, saying that it would "generate jobs" and promote "financial inclusion" in the short term. The Legislative Assembly approved the bill three days later. Although the World Bank rejected a request from the Salvadoran government to assist it with the implementation of bitcoin as legal tender, citing concerns about transparency and the environmental effects of bitcoin mining, Athena Bitcoin announced that it would invest $1 million to install 1,500 bitcoin ATMs. This would allow users to exchange U.S. dollars for bitcoin and vice versa.
  
  Bitcoin became legal tender on 7 September 2021 in El Salvador, the first country to do so. It became legal tender alongside the United States dollar, which had been adopted in 2001 and replaced the Salvadoran colón. About 1,000 people marched in the streets of San Salvador to protest the country's adoption of bitcoin.
  
  The day before bitcoin became legal tender, Bukele announced that the Salvadoran government had bought its first 200 bitcoins. Economist Steve Hanke stated that El Salvador had "the most distressed sovereign debt in the world" due to its adoption of bitcoin, and other economists predicted that the country would likely default on its debt. As the price of bitcoin rose to $44,000 in December 2023, Bukele announced that El Salvador's investment into bitcoin had broken even. In March 2024, he stated that El Salvador had made a 50-percent profit from bitcoin. Bukele mocked news-media outlets on Twitter, saying that there were "literally thousands of articles" about El Salvador's bitcoin losses and the same outlets were now "totally silent". By 19 January 2025, the Salvadoran government had 6,043 bitcoins worth $611.2 million.
  
  In November 2021, Bukele announced that he planned to build Bitcoin City in the southeastern region of La Unión at the base of the Conchagua volcano. The city would use geothermal energy to power bitcoin mining. Ricardo Navarro, head of the Salvadoran Center of Appropriate Technology, criticized the plan, adding that it would result in an "environmental disaster". Bukele published images of models of Bitcoin City and its planned airport on Twitter in May 2022, saying that the city would have "no income tax, zero property tax, no procurement tax, zero city tax, and zero CO2 emissions". In December 2023, the Legislative Assembly passed a law that allowed individuals to purchase Salvadoran citizenship by donating bitcoins to El Salvador.
  
  On 18 December 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to give El Salvador a $1.4 billion loan in exchange for the Salvadoran government making some concessions from the Bitcoin Law. Concessions included not requiring businesses to accept bitcoin as payment, not accepting bitcoin as tax payments, and reducing the number of bitcoins the government was purchasing. The day after the loan was approved, Stacy Herbert, the director of the National Bitcoin Office, stated that El Salvador would continue to buy bitcoins at an "accelerated rate" (" ritmo acelerado ") and the government purchased 11 bitcoins then worth over $1 million in total. On 29 January 2025, the Salvadoran government amended the Bitcoin Law to remove bitcoin's status as legal tender and currency but still allows its use as payment.
  
  In March 2025, The Economist wrote that El Salvador's bitcoin experiment had been a failure, bringing more costs than benefits to the El Salvador economy.
  
  Bukele announced at the Bitcoin 2021 conference on 5 June 2021 that he would introduce a bill to the Legislative Assembly that would make bitcoin legal tender, saying that it would "generate jobs" and promote "financial inclusion" in the short term. The Legislative Assembly approved the bill three days later. Although the World Bank rejected a request from the Salvadoran government to assist it with the implementation of bitcoin as legal tender, citing concerns about transparency and the environmental effects of bitcoin mining, Athena Bitcoin announced that it would invest $1 million to install 1,500 bitcoin ATMs. This would allow users to exchange U.S. dollars for bitcoin and vice versa.
  
  Bitcoin became legal tender on 7 September 2021 in El Salvador, the first country to do so. It became legal tender alongside the United States dollar, which had been adopted in 2001 and replaced the Salvadoran colón. About 1,000 people marched in the streets of San Salvador to protest the country's adoption of bitcoin.
  
  The day before bitcoin became legal tender, Bukele announced that the Salvadoran government had bought its first 200 bitcoins. Economist Steve Hanke stated that El Salvador had "the most distressed sovereign debt in the world" due to its adoption of bitcoin, and other economists predicted that the country would likely default on its debt. As the price of bitcoin rose to $44,000 in December 2023, Bukele announced that El Salvador's investment into bitcoin had broken even. In March 2024, he stated that El Salvador had made a 50-percent profit from bitcoin. Bukele mocked news-media outlets on Twitter, saying that there were "literally thousands of articles" about El Salvador's bitcoin losses and the same outlets were now "totally silent". By 19 January 2025, the Salvadoran government had 6,043 bitcoins worth $611.2 million.
  
  In November 2021, Bukele announced that he planned to build Bitcoin City in the southeastern region of La Unión at the base of the Conchagua volcano. The city would use geothermal energy to power bitcoin mining. Ricardo Navarro, head of the Salvadoran Center of Appropriate Technology, criticized the plan, adding that it would result in an "environmental disaster". Bukele published images of models of Bitcoin City and its planned airport on Twitter in May 2022, saying that the city would have "no income tax, zero property tax, no procurement tax, zero city tax, and zero CO2 emissions". In December 2023, the Legislative Assembly passed a law that allowed individuals to purchase Salvadoran citizenship by donating bitcoins to El Salvador.
  
  On 18 December 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to give El Salvador a $1.4 billion loan in exchange for the Salvadoran government making some concessions from the Bitcoin Law. Concessions included not requiring businesses to accept bitcoin as payment, not accepting bitcoin as tax payments, and reducing the number of bitcoins the government was purchasing. The day after the loan was approved, Stacy Herbert, the director of the National Bitcoin Office, stated that El Salvador would continue to buy bitcoins at an "accelerated rate" (" ritmo acelerado ") and the government purchased 11 bitcoins then worth over $1 million in total. On 29 January 2025, the Salvadoran government amended the Bitcoin Law to remove bitcoin's status as legal tender and currency but still allows its use as payment.
  
  In March 2025, The Economist wrote that El Salvador's bitcoin experiment had been a failure, bringing more costs than benefits to the El Salvador economy.