Although there was a decline in 2023, the sending of remittances in bitcoin to El Salvador increased substantially since BTC became legal tender.
Remittances sent in cryptocurrencies to El Salvador have experienced growth of more than 1000% over the past two years.
Figures published by the Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador (BCR) and data available from 2021 to date show how funds sent in cryptocurrencies have increased, going from USD 424,000 at the beginning of 2021 to more than USD 95 million in 2022, and from there to about USD 65 million up to September 2023.
And although the most recent information from the BCR shows a year-on-year decrease of more than 30% between 2022 and 2023, the trend indicates that what has been happening is stabilization, since the percentage of remittances in cryptocurrencies has remained between 1.1 and 1.5% during the first three quarters of this year.
This stability indicates that there is no growth in the base of cryptocurrency users sending remittances, who on average move about USD 7 to 8 million in bitcoin per month, as shown in the following table:
| Year 2023 | Amount sent in BTC in millions of dollars | |
| January | USD 8.37 | |
| February | USD 7.61 | |
| March | USD 8.53 | |
| April | USD 7.45 | |
| May | USD 7.69 | |
| June | USD 7.01 | |
| July | USD 6.48 |
It is also observed that this percentage of bitcoin remittances has exceeded 2% in these two years, with a peak of 2.5% recorded in May 2021.
It should be noted that, although these percentages are low, they are considered an important advance in adoption, as highlighted by Salvadoran entrepreneur Mónica Taher during a conference. This is considering that bitcoin remittances always represent a small fraction of the total sent. In fact, data from 2019 placed the percentage of remittances in cryptocurrencies sent to El Salvador at 0.1%.
This was stated by John Dennehy, founder of the Salvadoran project Mi Primer Bitcoin, for whom “it is quite an achievement” that now an average of more than 1% of remittances are counted in cryptocurrencies.
Less than 2 years ago that number would have been below 1%. So to go beyond that during a bear market is not a disappointment, it is an incredibly impressive growth and an extremely positive outlook for the future. John Dennery, founder of the NGO Mi Primer Bitcoin.
Bitcoin remittances deflate in 2023
According to statistics just published by the BCR, the percentage of bitcoin remittances sent to El Salvador between January and September 2023 represented 1.1%, a figure that shows a decrease compared to the same period in 2022 when the percentage was calculated at 1.7%.
Thus, the data indicate that the monthly income received through cryptocurrency wallets has been lower in 2023 compared to 2021 and 2022. The decline contrasts with an increase of more than 30% in remittances received by other means, with an increase in shipments from the United States, Canada, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom in the third quarter of the year.
It should be taken into account that in 2021 the surge in BTC remittances was related not only to the adoption of the digital currency in El Salvador, but also to a rise in its price which reached an all-time high of nearly USD 70,000. That rise was followed by a prolonged bear market that lasted for most of 2022.
Even before the approval of bitcoin as legal tender, El Salvador was already experiencing an increase in the flow of funds with the cryptocurrency, through remittances sent by Salvadorans from other countries.
It is also worth noting that the B
