El Salvador Crypto Adoption Declines Significantly: Report

For a nation that adopted Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender before others, El Salvador is currently performing lower than expected in terms of their excitement towards cryptocurrencies. According to a recent report by CoinGecko, crypto enthusiasm in the country has dropped significantly even though El Salvador is still very much involved with some pro-crypto initiatives. 

A number of these crypto-inclined initiatives are a symbol of the efforts that the country has been investing to promote mainstream crypto adoption amongst citizens. 

Only 2% Salvadorans Own Bitcoin 

Sadly, it seems like the efforts have been futile considering the fact that less than 2% of El Salvador population was reported to hold crypto. The Central America country has a total population of 6.36 million people. This means that only a little over 100,000 Salvadorans own crypto. 

Data from Triple-A confirmed that only 109,175 people own Bitcoin in El Salvador. Another indicator of the country’s declining crypto adoption is its recent ranking on the global crypto adoption index; El Salvador ranked 55th. Losing its position as the 4th largest crypto Automated Teller Machine (ATM) hub to Australia was another nip in the bud for El Salvador. These incidents underscores a lack of crypto interest in the country.

Crypto Activities Picks Up in China 

Funnily, even countries that placed a ban on crypto activities including China, are currently doing better and experiencing a faster growth rate. Two months ago, China was touted as Binance’s largest crypto market and this goes to show that many Chinese people are showing interest in digital assets. 

“An estimated 4.08% of the total population in China (or 58 million people) currently owns cryptocurrency,” a report pointed out.

El Salvador Push For Crypto Adoption 

In the beginning of 2023, El Salvador introduced a legalization bill for digital assets after the proposal scaled through with 62 votes in its favor and another 16 against its implementation. At the time, the National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) of El Salvador explained that the digital securities laws will usher in unprecedented consumer protection from bad actors. 

Still, El Salvador seems to be struggling to get its people to adopt and integrate crypto. In terms of its books, the crypto numbers are looking good. President Nayib Bukele announced that the country’s combined Bitcoin investments have reached $131 million.