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- El Salvador has announced its plans to launch Bitcoin Banks after being the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender.
- The world is now watching whether El Salvador will be successful with its plan and set an example for other nations.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin (BTC) office has confirmed that the state’s government is now planning to create its “Bitcoin Bank”. This would be the first time a country has established a financial institution that is dedicated to only Bitcoin. The opening of the bank is scheduled for 2025; however, no specific timelines for the launch have been revealed.
With the Bitcoin bank, Salvadorans could hold both dollars and Bitcoin in the same account, instantly swap between them, and send money to family abroad in seconds without the painful remittance fees that eat into their earnings.
Businesses could accept Bitcoin from tourists but have it converted to dollars on the spot, protecting them from wild price swings, while farmers and shop owners could tap into small loans backed by their Bitcoin savings. For the government, it could attract more foreign investors, fuel Bitcoin-backed infrastructure projects, and cement El Salvador’s image as a crypto-friendly destination.
“Bitcoin continues its unstoppable vector in EL Salvador,” Max Keiser, Senior Bitcoin Adviser to President Nayib Bukele, said in an exclusive interview with a leading media outlet. Bitcoin is beating all the world $400 trillion in stored value while rendering inert all the central banks & doomed, archaic, 3-letter agency helpers.”
Max Keiser, the president’s senior Bitcoin advisor, has been woven into El Salvador’s Bitcoin story from the very start. When President Nayib Bukele stood on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 conference on June 5, 2021, and stunned the world with his plan to make Bitcoin legal tender, Keiser was there.
He was also there the night before the law took effect, when Bukele proudly announced that the government had bought its first 200 Bitcoins, a moment that marked the country’s leap into uncharted financial territory.
IMF and Global players
It’s an idea full of promise but not without pitfalls. Price volatility, hacking threats, and pressure from powerful institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could make the journey treacherous. Still, if built wisely, such a bank could weave Bitcoin into daily life, not as a replacement for the dollar, but as a second, tech-powered financial lifeline.
That lifeline is under strain. In December 2024, El Salvador signed a $1.4 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. Buried in the fine print were demands to scale back much of its Bitcoin policy and infrastructure. One target: the taxpayer-funded “one BTC every day” strategy.
Officially, the plan was supposed to end by July 2025. Unofficially, Bukele has held his ground. In late February and early March, the country actually accelerated its buying, picking up 40 BTC in just 30 days. Today, El Salvador’s stash sits at 6,255 BTC, worth roughly $720.9 million.
Globally, the race for Bitcoin dominance is fierce. The UAE is rumored to hold a staggering 420,000 BTC, followed by the United States with 198,012, and China with 190,000.
As of now, Bitcoin trades at $116,000, with a slightly lower daily volume of $56 billion and a market cap of $2.32 trillion. El Salvador’s place in this story is small compared to the giants, but it remains symbolic.
