Bitcoin flourishes in the abysses. In those inhospitable economies, where the imprint of interventionism fractured currencies and left trauma in institutional trust. Bitcoin flourishes in Latin America, not as a speculative bet, but as a necessity, as a breath of freedom.
This is how Bitcoin has flourished in Bolivia. After years of repression and fear, today, out of necessity, thanks to the education efforts of local communities, the South American country shows its potential to become the next El Salvador or Bitcoin country in Latin America.
The dark age of Bitcoin in Bolivia
Bolivia was one of the nine countries in the world that at some point imposed a total ban on bitcoin. In a May 2014 resolution, Bolivia banned the use and trading of non-government-issued crypto assets.
The Central Bank justified this ban due to cases of affinity scams, which had nothing to do with Bitcoin, but also because they were not issued by States. Both arguments are insufficient to excuse a ban, since scams can arise in any area and are not inherent to Bitcoin, and since, as we have demonstrated in past editorials, money is not a creature of the state but of human relationships. However, Bolivia ratified its veto on cryptocurrencies in December 2020.
Despite the ban, and even amid exclusions from centralized exchanges, Bolivians began to educate themselves and educate themselves about cryptocurrencies; They took their first steps on p2p platforms, and formed their local community of users. “We will not be stagnated by the ban,” community leaders declared in 2019, while organizing talks to explain to the population how to take advantage of the benefits of Bitcoin and combat the proliferation of scams.
These community leaders They were visionaries of what was coming and how cryptocurrencies would protect Bolivians. The wrong decisions of the planned economy would begin to take their toll on the country, making cryptocurrencies go from niche to necessity. In a context of inflation and devaluation of the national currency (the Bolivian), a time when Latin American populations usually turn to the dollar as a refuge of value, A severe shortage of the US currency began to hit due to a drop in national reserves.
Furthermore, in Bolivia there is strict exchange control and an official exchange rate set since November 2011 at 6.9 BOB. And while the country imports most of its products, for which dollars are required, the lack of access to the official dollar meant that businessmen had to turn to the parallel market dollar. This increased the loss of purchasing power of Bolivians and led the government to consider joining the global de-dollarization trend.
According to the economist of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Jonathan Fortun, the weakening of the Bolivian economy and the fall in export income fostered the exchange gap with the parallel dollar. This while the demand for dollars in the country increased due to the economic uncertainty and the perception of a potential devaluation of the Bolivian.
This produced an exchange differential with the blue dollar that even reached 200% in May 2025, when the parallel reached 20 BOB per dollar. Today, at 10.2 BOB, the spread has fallen to 48%.
A change of direction for cryptocurrencies in Bolivia
This shortage of dollars was one of the reasons that motivated the favorable shift towards cryptocurrencies in 2023, but without the dissemination and education work undertaken by local communities, this idea probably would not have been contemplated. Even former presidential candidate Jaime Dunn recognized that the legalization of cryptocurrencies would be an escape valve in the face of the currency crisis.
From then on, working groups were convened between legislators, regulatory agencies and community members to create regulations for the sector that would reverse the damage of the ban and take advantage of the benefits of cryptocurrencies.
By June 2024, the Central Bank, together with the Financial System Supervision Authority and the Financial Investigations Unit, decided annul the 2020 resolution and allow the use of cryptocurrencies, attributing the decision to recommendations from the Latin American FATF, rather than to the efforts of the local community. But Bolivians would still see this as a triumph for their grassroots education work.
According to the regulations, banks are allowed to carry out cryptocurrency transactions through authorized electronic channels. However, they reiterated that they are not considered legal tender in the country.
The change in perception was such that even the then president of the Central Bank, Edwin Rojas, said that the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Bolivia “can be something very useful and practical” for merchants, and that they would begin to offer training. The president of the Federation of Private Entrepreneurs of La Paz assured that they would proceed to use crypto assets.
In August 2024, former president Luis Arce assured that digital platforms for payments with stablecoins had been enabled as a way to alleviate the shortage of foreign currency, with the country’s most important banks offering services.
By September 2024, a few months after the law was passed, cryptocurrency operations grew 100%, driven mainly by stablecoin transactions. A year later, by June 2025, the Central Bank would issue a 630% increase in cryptocurrency use among Bolivians on Binance. And by the fourth quarter of 2025, Bolivia is positioned as the fourth country with the highest absolute growth in Bitcoin mining.
The way Bolivians entered cryptocurrencies is as if a dam had burst or a stampede had broken out. It is an example of how parker lewisquoting Hemingway, says that mass adoption of Bitcoin will occur: gradually, and then suddenly.
Adoption in Bolivia is not limited to companies and individuals. Even the state oil company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos began using cryptocurrencies for fuel imports, due to the shortage of foreign currency that led to a gasoline crisis.
In July 2025, the Financial System Supervision Authority (ASFI) implemented ASFI Resolution 540/2025, the first regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Bolivia. And although there were positions adverse to the regulation, Bolivians felt legal security in the sector for the first time.
Cryptocurrencies have emerged as such a need in the country that it had to be addressed and supported by the majority of the country’s presidential candidates in the last elections. This was not a partisan issue. As our reporter Marianella Vanci said, Bitcoin was the winner of the elections in Bolivia.
A government that supports investment
The elected president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, began his term on November 8 with a turn towards what he calls “capitalism for all”, with emphasis on economic openness, decentralization and stabilization of the crisis.
In less than a month of mandate, his first measures They seek to reduce the tax burden, eliminating taxes such as those on large fortunes, gambling taxes and business promotions. He made a 30% cut in federal spending for the 2026 budget and reduced subsidies for different products.
These types of tax burden reduction measures are usually attractive to foreign companies and investors. While the prohibition made it difficult to form companies specialized in the area, today there is the need to create infrastructure and services linked to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in Bolivia.
Taking the Salvadoran experience as a reference, this means a wide space of opportunity for both local initiatives and foreign investment, which can be attracted by the tax conditions that the new government is promoting.
Regarding cryptocurrencies, the Minister of Economy, José Gabriel Espinoza established that “Digital assets will function as a legal tender payment instrument within the financial system“Although there is still no formal regulation in this regard, if carried out, they would take the lead left by El Salvador after pressure from the IMF.
Espinoza assured that Bolivia will integrate cryptocurrencies into the formal banking system starting with stablecoins, allowing banks to offer digital asset services, including savings accounts, credit cards and loans.
Nothing has yet been said about including Bitcoin in the national treasury, but the immediate rescue of the country’s international reserves has been made a priority.
Cryptocurrencies have already won in Bolivia
In Bolivia there is no turning back: Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are here to stay. It is common in Latin America to be the trauma due to failed institutions that opens people’s eyes to the weaknesses of centralized money management. It is precisely for this reason that Bolivians adopted cryptocurrencies in droves once the ban was lifted.
It is very likely that Bolivia will follow the path of El Salvador. In fact, since July, both nations have maintained a memorandum of understanding to promote bilateral cooperation and the exchange of knowledge on cryptoassets.
But beyond potential government support, Bitcoin is already being adopted at the grassroots level out of necessity. Similar to the experience of Venezuela, where the community operated in the shadows and is now experiencing an adoption boom out of necessity, Bolivians already know this instrument of freedom, and are highly unlikely to let it go again. Regardless of what this or future governments do, Bolivians will continue to use bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
So, Latin America is little by little becoming a bitcoiner regionwith El Salvador, Venezuela, Argentina and now Bolivia, leading the way. Going forward, if they make the right decisions and move towards an integration of Bitcoin into the economy, in the future we will see the standard of living of these countries take a 180 degree turn, flourishing from the abyss.