Bitcoin Core contributor Jon Atack reported on Aug. 23 that a restaurant in El Zonte, El Salvador, received its first Bitcoin payment of the month when he paid for lunch.
Summary
- One El Zonte restaurant reportedly recorded only one Bitcoin payment during August, according to Atack.
- Atack explicitly described the restaurant encounter as anecdotal, not comprehensive evidence for national payment activity.
- Only 8.1% of Salvadorans reported using Bitcoin for purchases during 2024, according to university polling.
- El Salvador made private-sector Bitcoin acceptance voluntary after revising its Bitcoin Law under IMF commitments.
- IMF documents say public Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged despite apparent increases in tracked government wallets.
Atack, who has lived in El Salvador since 2022, said restaurant staff told him Bitcoin payments were once common but had become “practically non-existent.” El Zonte is widely known as Bitcoin Beach, the community that helped inspire El Salvador’s national Bitcoin policy.
Bitcoin Beach report remains one merchant’s experience
According to Atack’s account, restaurant staff said almost every customer now paid by card. A worker reportedly declined a tip in satoshis because she had forgotten how to use her Bitcoin application.
“It was the first Bitcoin payment there all month,” Atack reported. He described the encounter as anecdotal, meaning it cannot establish payment activity across El Zonte or El Salvador.
Another visitor responding to the discussion said she had recently paid with Bitcoin in the area. She also observed signs advertising Bitcoin acceptance, showing that payment infrastructure remains available at some businesses.
The accounts are not necessarily contradictory. Merchant activity can vary by location, customer base and season. No comprehensive August transaction data for El Zonte was publicly available to measure the reported decline.
National surveys show Bitcoin use was already falling
Atack’s experience is consistent with earlier national surveys showing reduced consumer use. A Universidad Centroamericana survey found that 8.1% of Salvadorans used Bitcoin to purchase or pay for something during 2024.
Reported usage fell from 25.7% in 2021 to 21% in 2022 and 12% in 2023. The 2024 survey covered 1,266 people, carried a 95% confidence level and had a stated margin of error of 2.75 percentage points.
A separate Universidad Francisco Gavidia survey produced a similar result. It found that 92% of respondents did not use Bitcoin for transactions in 2024, while 7.5% said they did.
These surveys measure self-reported use rather than merchant transaction volumes. They nevertheless provide broader evidence than one restaurant encounter and show that everyday Bitcoin use had declined before the latest Bitcoin Beach report.
The tendency to hold Bitcoin rather than spend it is one possible explanation. Supporters expecting its price to rise may prefer cards or dollars for routine purchases. Price volatility and unfamiliar wallet processes may also discourage consumers, but no new survey establishes which factor currently dominates.
El Salvador made Bitcoin acceptance voluntary
El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021. Its original law generally required businesses with the necessary technology to accept the asset, while the government supported dollar conversion through the Chivo wallet and Fidebitcoin trust.
The country revised that policy before securing a 40-month, $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility from the International Monetary Fund in February 2025. The IMF’s approval stated that the reforms made private-sector acceptance voluntary and required taxes to be paid in U.S. dollars.
The detailed IMF program also confirmed that the government removed its obligation to guarantee conversions between Bitcoin and dollars. Merchants can therefore stop accepting Bitcoin when customer demand or operating costs do not justify maintaining the service.
The IMF’s December 2025 update said negotiations to sell the government’s interest in the Chivo wallet were advanced. It did not confirm that the transaction had closed.
Government reserves are separate from retail payments
El Salvador’s government continues displaying apparent additions to its publicly tracked Bitcoin reserve. Those movements do not demonstrate that residents are using Bitcoin more frequently for everyday purchases.
Onchain figures previously suggested that El Salvador added 240 BTC after signing its IMF agreement. The reported additions continued a policy that had earlier produced 20 BTC of apparent reserve growth within one week.
Later IMF documentation, signed by Salvadoran officials, said the public sector had not voluntarily accumulated Bitcoin after the program received approval.
The IMF said total government-controlled holdings remained unchanged. Apparent increases in individual wallets could therefore reflect transfers between government-controlled addresses rather than purchases from outside parties.
The Fund’s first program review called for the government to keep its aggregate Bitcoin holdings unchanged, reduce public participation in Chivo and improve crypto-asset oversight.
What happens next will depend on updated merchant data, a new nationwide usage survey and the Chivo divestment process. Until then, the restaurant account supports existing evidence of weaker payment adoption but does not prove that Bitcoin payments have disappeared nationwide.
