El Zonte, branded ‘Bitcoin Beach’, is ground zero of El Salvador’s cryptocurrency experiment Credit: VICTOR RAISON Susie Coen US Correspondent, in El Zonte, El Salvador 27 May 2025 10:30am BST ...

Before Bitcoin Beach, 90% of people in El Zonte had no bank accounts; nor had they ever made a digital transaction. Up until then, the vast majority had no savings.

Whereas El Zonte — the surfing village known as Bitcoin Beach, home to El Salvador’s very first Bitcoin circular economy — has grown into a tourism hotspot, Berlín is still relatively ...

El Salvador could further solidify its reputation as a cryptocurrency pioneer by leveraging Bitcoin’s benefits, such as lower remittance costs and improved financial inclusion.

But not everyone in El Salvador is convinced by the cryptocurrency. According to a survey by Central American University, 88 percent of Salvadorans said that they did not use bitcoin in 2023.

In 2021, El Salvador became the world's first country to establish bitcoin as legal tender, at the initiative of President Nayib Bukele, who has hailed the cryptocurrency's recent strong performance.

In a surf town in El Salvador nicknamed "Bitcoin Beach," shopkeeper Maria Aguirre watched with delight as the cryptocurrency -- and her investment in it -- recently soared to new all-time highs.

Mi Primer Bitcoin graduation ceremony at El Salvador's school Instituto Nacional de Apopa Lorena Ortiz Mi Primer Bitcoin is an educational project with a bitcoin diploma program, so far 1,500 ...

I attempted to spend two weeks traveling in El Salvador, living on Bitcoin. I tried to pay for every single thing with Bitcoin, or satoshis — small amounts of Bitcoin. Spoiler alert: I failed.

The El Zonte region, located about one hour from the capital San Salvador, was where the Bitcoin Beach social project started, motivated by an anonymous donation to the local community.