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LATAM · Pioneer
El Salvador
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 62 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +1 |
| Inflation 1.7% · unbanked 57% · remittances 24% GDP · capital controls 0.3 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.372 |
| Need multiplier | ×1.058 |
| Livability score | 0.781 |
Raw 62/84 = 0.738 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.37, from five components: inflation 1.7% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 57% of adults, remittances 24% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.30 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×1.06. Livability score 0.781, rank #2 of 79.
Three findings
A perfect access score and the joint-best regulation score in the index
El Salvador posts 16/16 on access, sharing the index ceiling, with 210 crypto ATMs serving its three largest cities at 99 machines per 1 million urban residents. Its 17/20 regulation score is the joint best of all 79 countries, level with Argentina: a 0% capital-gains tax on crypto that survived the 2025 IMF restructuring intact, and an explicit right under Article 4 of the 2021 Bitcoin Law to pay salaries in Bitcoin, one of only three top scores for income legality alongside Argentina and the UAE.
Tether moved its headquarters here
In January 2025 the issuer of USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, relocated its headquarters to El Salvador, an institutional anchor no other small economy can claim, layered on top of the National Commission of Digital Assets framework and the dollar as legal tender, which makes the USDT-to-dollar pair the cleanest fiat rail anywhere.
Bitcoin lost its legal-tender mandate but kept its rails
As an IMF loan condition, the Bitcoin Law was amended on 29 January 2025 to make merchant acceptance voluntary and end tax payment in Bitcoin, and the state Chivo wallet was wound down by July 2025. The infrastructure built from 2021 to 2024 persists: El Zonte's Bitcoin Beach still runs over half its businesses on Bitcoin, and merchant acceptance holds above the top threshold.
In one line
"El Salvador stopped compelling Bitcoin and discovered the rails it built still carry. With a 0% crypto tax, the right to be paid in Bitcoin, and the world's largest stablecoin issuer now headquartered here, the rulebook remains the strongest in the index."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 3/4, trending liberalising on a mixed but net-positive year. The Investment Banking Law of 7 August 2025 lets financial institutions with at least $50 million in capital apply for a digital-asset-service-provider licence from the National Commission of Digital Assets, opening institutional crypto banking and custody. A cooperation agreement with the Central Bank of Bolivia took effect with no expiry. The counterweight is the IMF programme: negotiations to sell the state Chivo wallet were reported well advanced at year-end, and sovereign Bitcoin accumulation of roughly 6,249 BTC continues.