El Salvador Crypto Remittances Reach $17.38M

The rise comes as family remittance volumes reached $910.81 million in March, with Q1 total volumes sitting at $2.43 billion, growing 7.3% year-over-year, even as the world faces geopolitical challenges. The U.S. is the main source of these funds, accounting for over 90% of the total received by Salvadorans.

Nonetheless, even with this rise, cryptocurrency remittances reach only 0.71% of the total volumes, underscoring the low penetration of digital assets in a sector dominated by traditional giants that still charge significant fees for their services.

The sluggish performance of the crypto sector in the remittance industry might have been influenced by the public sector’s abandonment of bitcoin after the current administration inked a credit agreement with the International Monetary Fund in 2025.

As a result, the government also agreed to sunset the Chivo wallet, a national cryptocurrency wallet which had been promoted as the weapon of choice for remittances and savings.

President Nayib Bukele pushed remittances as one of the key use cases for bitcoin adoption in 2021, but Salvadorans have been slow to adopt them. At that time, Bukele stated that industry giants like Western Union and Moneygram could lose up to $400 million in annual commissions if Salvadorans adopted bitcoin for remittances on a large scale.

Remittances to El Salvador are the nation’s main source of external income, reaching nearly 25% of its gross domestic product (GDP), surpassing tourism and foreign investment.

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