El Salvador Doubles Down: World’s First Bitcoin Banks Launch in 2025
El Salvador just flipped traditional finance the bird—again. The Bitcoin-adopting nation is rolling out the planet's first state-backed Bitcoin banks, cementing its crypto-anarchist reputation while Wall Street sweats over its coffee.
No more 'trust us' fractional reserve nonsense. These banks will custody BTC like digital gold—transparent, immutable, and auditable on-chain. Take that, JP Morgan.
President Nayib Bukele's play? To bank the unbanked with Lightning-fast transactions while legacy banks drown in KYC paperwork. The streets of San Salvador might soon have more Bitcoin ATMs than Starbucks locations.
Critics whisper about volatility risks, but Salvadorans are used to riding economic rollercoasters—at least this one has a moon shot attached. Meanwhile, IMF officials reportedly choked on their IMF-branded champagne.
One thing's certain: when history books cover the 2020s financial revolution, this chapter will be written in orange.
pic.twitter.com/DEGUKMmhfd
— The bitcoin Office (@bitcoinofficesv) August 8, 2025
While details on the upcoming Bitcoin Banks remain scarce, the initiative is expected to further embed Bitcoin into the nation’s financial infrastructure. The country might have potentially passed a law to offer banking services fully denominated in BTC.
Max Keiser, Senior Bitcoin Adviser to President Nayib Bukele, expressed the scale of the vision in an exclusive comment to BeInCrypto.
“Bitcoin continues its unstoppable vector in El Salvador. Bitcoin is eating all the world’s $400 trillion in stored value while rendering inert all the central banks & their doomed, archaic, 3-letter agency helpers,” Keiser stated.
Keiser, along with his wife Stacy Herbert — Director of the Bitcoin Office — has been a key driver of El Salvador’s pro-Bitcoin policies since the nation adopted BTC as legal tender in 2021.
The launch of Bitcoin Banks could mark a pivotal moment in the country’s bid to position itself as the global epicenter of Bitcoin innovation.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned for further updates.
