Everyday Bitcoin transactions have declined sharply in El Zonte, the coastal community known as Bitcoin Beach that helped inspire El Salvador’s pioneering adoption of the cryptocurrency as legal tender. Bitcoin Core contributor Jon Atack, who has lived in the country since 2022, described an encounter at a local restaurant that captured the shift.

On August 23, 2026, Atack paid for lunch with Bitcoin and was told by staff that the transaction was the establishment’s only such payment of the entire month. Workers said Bitcoin payments, once common, had become practically non-existent. Nearly all customers now settle bills with cards. When Atack offered a tip in satoshis, one employee declined, explaining she had forgotten how to operate her Bitcoin wallet application and describing the local payment scene as dead.

Atack characterized the account as anecdotal and not proof of activity across the town or the nation. Another visitor later reported completing a Bitcoin payment nearby and seeing signs advertising acceptance at other businesses, indicating that infrastructure remains available even if usage has fallen.

National Surveys Confirm Long-Term Decline

The restaurant experience aligns with broader survey data showing a steady drop in consumer use of Bitcoin for purchases. A Universidad Centroamericana poll found that just 8.1 percent of Salvadorans reported using Bitcoin to buy or pay for something in 2024. That figure declined from 25.7 percent in 2021, the year Bitcoin became legal tender, to 21 percent in 2022 and 12 percent in 2023. The 2024 survey of 1,266 respondents carried a 95 percent confidence level and a margin of error of 2.75 percentage points.

A separate survey by Universidad Francisco Gavidia produced a comparable result, with 92 percent of respondents saying they did not use Bitcoin for transactions in 2024 and only 7.5 percent reporting that they did.

These self-reported figures measure individual habits rather than merchant transaction volumes, yet they provide a wider view than any single business report and show that routine spending of Bitcoin had already been shrinking for several years.

Factors Behind Reduced Spending

Several practical and behavioral factors appear to limit everyday use. Many holders treat Bitcoin primarily as a long-term store of value rather than a medium of exchange, preferring to retain coins in anticipation of price gains. Price volatility creates risk for both consumers and merchants, as the value of a payment can change before conversion to dollars. Card payments remain faster and more familiar for small daily purchases. Some staff also struggle with wallet interfaces after periods of low activity.

Bitcoin reporter Juan Galt has described the preference for holding over spending as counter-economic, noting that a functioning circular economy requires participants willing to use the asset for goods and services.

Policy Shift After IMF Agreement

El Salvador first recognized Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021. The original law generally required businesses with the technical capacity to accept it, supported by government-backed dollar conversion through the Chivo wallet and a related trust.

That framework changed after the country secured a 40-month, $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility from the International Monetary Fund in February 2025. Under the revised Bitcoin Law, private-sector acceptance became voluntary. Taxes must be paid in U.S. dollars, and the government no longer guarantees conversions between Bitcoin and dollars. Merchants can therefore discontinue Bitcoin payments when demand or operational costs no longer support the option.

An IMF update in December 2025 noted that negotiations to sell the government’s stake in the Chivo wallet were advanced, though it did not confirm completion of the sale.

Government Holdings Remain Separate from Retail Activity

El Salvador’s public Bitcoin reserves have drawn attention through on-chain movements that appeared to show additions after the IMF program began, including roughly 240 BTC in one reported period. However, IMF documentation signed by Salvadoran officials stated that the public sector did not voluntarily accumulate new Bitcoin after program approval and that total government-controlled holdings remained unchanged. Apparent increases likely reflect transfers among addresses already under government control rather than fresh purchases. Official purchases are reported to have stopped in February 2025.

The IMF’s first program review called for the government to maintain aggregate holdings at current levels, reduce public involvement in Chivo, and strengthen oversight of crypto assets. These reserve dynamics operate independently of retail payment patterns at the point of sale.

Atack has continued to describe El Salvador as a pioneering frontier in Bitcoin adoption and regulation, even as everyday transactions at the merchant level have slowed. Further clarity will depend on updated merchant data, new national surveys, and the outcome of the Chivo process.