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The Digital Asset Ecosystem in El Salvador: Challenges and Risks to Countercheck Financial Crime

January 2025

This new report, produced by the Vance Center and Global Financial Integrity (GFI), provides an in-depth analysis of technological developments, financial crime prevention, and personal data protection related to El Salvador’s virtual asset ecosystem. Since the country’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, a dynamic new financial environment has emerged, presenting both outstanding opportunities and significant challenges.

The report, “The Digital Asset Ecosystem in El Salvador: Risks and Challenges for Countering Financial Crime,” provides a technical assessment of the current ecosystem’s landscape, emphasizing areas of technological innovation, regulatory developments, and emerging threats. It also makes several key recommendations to strengthen the virtual asset ecosystem in El Salvador.

This report is part of an ongoing series. Through various resources and reports, the Vance Center and GFI have analyzed El Salvador’s digital assets ecosystem at the legislative level, framing it within emerging best practices and international recommendations, and have highlighted the country’s role in driving regional policy and practices related to virtual assets.

Read the report

This report is also available in Spanish.

More Information

Read the first report in this series, “The Virtual Assets Ecosystem in El Salvador: Strengthening Financial Integrity and Transparency,” in English and Spanish.