In September 2021, a small country in Central America did something unthinkable: It made El Salvador Bitcoin legal tender.
President Nayib Bukele announced that Bitcoin was now official money alongside the US dollar. Every business had to accept it. Citizens could pay taxes with it. The government even launched its own wallet called “Chivo” and gave everyone $30 in free BTC.
Why did they do this? To break free from financial dependence.
El Salvador doesn’t have its own currency; it uses the US dollar. That means it relies on the US Federal Reserve for its monetary policy. By adopting Bitcoin, it diversified its reserves.
Also, 70% of the population was unbanked. Suddenly, anyone with a cheap smartphone had a working bank account.
The El Salvador Bitcoin experiment shocked the world (and angered the IMF). It proved effectively that a nation-state could embrace the future of money and survive.