In 2021, the Salvadoran government began a plan to accumulate Bitcoin in a sustained way.
The contribution of El Salvador to the ecosystem has achieved international recognition.
Max Keiser, commentator and advisor to President Nayib Bukele on Bitcoin (BTC) issues, said recently which considers the three pillars that a country must adopt to compete with the Salvadoran experience around the creation of Satoshi Nakamoto.
According to the specialist, the recipe is composed of three key elements: A Bitcoin National Office, a BTC strategic reserve and a banking law that integrates the financial system assets. These components, already implemented in the Central American country, make up the institutional framework on which part of its economic strategy has been raised since 2021.
The first pillar is the creation of an entity that was established in El Salvador in November 2022, with the purpose of managing and coordinating all Bitcoin related initiatives.
It is an office that operates as a specialized body within the Presidency. Its functions include the promotion of educational programs on Bitcoin and coordination with international investors interested in developing projects in the country, such as Bitcoin City and mining with geothermal energy. He has also played a central role in the management of the BTC National Reserve, another of the pillars indicated by Keiser.
The agency is directed by Stacy Herbert.
A strategic reserve and a banking law
The second element indicated By Keiser it is the creation of a BTC National Reserve. Since 2021, the Salvadoran Government has carried out a plan to accumulate the asset, periodically announcing purchases through publications of President Bukele in social networks.
The most relevant milestone of this strategy occurred in November 2022, when Bukele announced that the country would begin buying a daily bitcoin indefinitely. This policy, supervised by the National Office of Bitcoin, has remained to date with some exceptions and doubts about the veracity of the execution of the program. However, the project has inspired other countries to follow similar approaches.
As Cryptonoticias reported, in March of this year Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, which is estimated at about 200,000 BTC seized.
Although the order excludes the use of public funds to acquire the asset, it underlines two aspects of great importance: its relevance as a long -term reserve means, and the change of opinion from the United States, which during the Biden administration maintained a very hostile attitude towards the sector.
It should be noted that at the end of 2024, the El Salvador reservation exceeded 5,700 BTC. Today, according to the data From the official portal of the Bitcoin National Office, the country has 6,271 BTC.
Finally, the third pillar identified by Keiser is the existence of a legal framework that allows financial institutions to operate with BTC. In August 2025, the Salvadoran Legislative Assembly approved the Law on Investment Bankswhich explicitly incorporated the cryptocurrencies within the country’s financial system.
The legislation allows the creation of private investment banks that, in addition to operating in dollars, can offer services in Bitcoin and Stablecoins. Among its functions include the issuance of tokenized financial instruments, digital asset management and financing structuring for large -scale projects in sectors such as infrastructure, energy and technology.
The regulations impose strict requirements: they can only access these sophisticated investor services, with a minimum assets of $ 250,000 and proven experience in financial markets. The control of these entities falls to the Central Reserve Bank and in the Superintendence of the Financial System.
When pointing out these three pillars, Keiser offers, under his view, a clear road map for other countries interested in emulating the Salvadoran model. Everyone can make their own evaluation of the results obtained, but what is no doubt that the contribution of El Salvador to the ecosystem has been recognized by numerous figures, companies in the sector and even several rulers of the world.
