Crypto Adoption in El Salvador Still Low Despite Maximum Government Efforts

The government of El Salvador through President Nayib Bukele continues to promote crypto. (photo: x @PresidenciaSV)

JAKARTA - The El Salvador government continues to strive to promote widespread adoption of cryptocurrency within the country. But a recent report from CoinGecko highlights the limited number of crypto owners in the country.

Published on December 7, the report confirmed that El Salvador is the only country in the world that is actively using crypto as legal tender. However, a relatively small percentage of the population currently owns Bitcoin.

According to data from Triple-A, about 109,175 people own Bitcoin in El Salvador, which has a population of about 6.36 million people — roughly 1.72%.

Additionally, El Salvador ranks 55th in the global crypto adoption index. However, some countries, including those that have banned cryptocurrencies, are experiencing faster growth rates.

Despite China's crypto ban, a higher percentage of its citizens reportedly own digital assets.

"It is estimated that around 4.08% of the total population in China (or 58 million people) currently own cryptocurrencies," the report said.

This follows the announcement by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, that the country's combined Bitcoin investment had reached 131 million US dollars (IDR 2 trillion). On December 4, this translated into a net profit of US $ 3.6 million (IDR 56 billion), resulting in a total gain of 2.84%.

Meanwhile, the El Salvador government continues to strengthen its efforts to increase crypto investment in the country.

On December 8, it was reported that the country had begun a new citizenship by investment initiative, providing residence visas and a path to citizenship for individuals willing to invest USD 1 million (IDR 15.5 billion) in Bitcoin or Tether domestically.