The United States is currently following in the footsteps of El Salvador, according to Michele Crivelli, the founder of NexBridge, a digital asset firm specializing in real-world asset tokenization.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Crivelli stressed the importance of an independent regulatory body for crypto regulation and said the US was taking the right steps with the newly commissioned Working Group on Digital Asset Markets. Crivelli said:
“The United States is doing something that El Salvador did in 2021. They created a special commission to study how to implement a legal framework for crypto like El Salvador did with the National Commission of Digital Assets.”
The NexBridge founder added that smaller nations with less to lose, like El Salvador, will be the pioneers of global digital asset adoption, eventually drawing in larger players like the US once the trend toward the digital economy becomes too hard to ignore.
Asset manager Anthony Pompliano voiced the same argument in November and specifically cited El Salvador’s and Bhutan’s gradual accumulation of Bitcoin (BTC) as a signal that the global race for BTC was well underway.
President Trump signs an executive order commissioning his Working Group on Digital Asset Markets. Source: The White House
Related: Failure or 5D chess? El Salvador IMF deal walks back Bitcoin adoption
El Salvador continues accumulating Bitcoin despite IMF deal
El Salvador officially repealed its Bitcoin legal tender law as part of a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in January 2025.
The supranational body placed pressure on El Salvador to backtrack on its Bitcoin policies for months before reaching an agreement with the Central American country.
Bitcoin maximalists decried the repeal of the legal tender law, which required businesses to accept BTC as a form of payment.
Despite rolling back the law and securing a loan from the IMF, El Salvador continues to accumulate Bitcoin.
El Salvador continues to accumulate Bitcoin. Source: National Bitcoin Office
The country recently acquired an additional 12 BTC, valued at over $1.2 million at the time of purchase, putting El Salvador’s total holdings just north of 6,051 BTC.
Stablecoin issuer Tether also announced it was relocating its headquarters to El Salvador due to the country’s favorable regulatory environment.
Magazine: El Salvador’s national Bitcoin chief has been orange-pilling Argentina
