Why El Salvador?
Advantages
- Openness. El Salvador has always been open to direct foreign investment, and the country builds its development strategy on the policy of openness for trade, investment, and international competition.
- Official recognition of Bitcoin. El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender. Although in 2025 it lost this status due to pressure from the IMF, El Salvador continued to replenish its reserves with this cryptocurrency.
- The launch of the project here is relatively fast. It's all relative, but the timelines will be clearly shorter compared to most other jurisdictions where a special crypto license is required. This makes El Salvador especially attractive to those who value timeliness.
Restrictions
- Instability and high corruption level. Unfortunately, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index, El Salvador occupies a relatively high place in the rating. Moreover, the last decades have not been easy for the country. However, the situation is gradually improving.
- In some cases, a compliance officer must be a resident of El Salvador. This is relevant if you are planning to work with Bitcoin. However, we can help overcome this barrier.
- There is no special regulation in relation to mining and DAO. For some, the absence of strict rules can be an advantage, but for those who value transparency and clear regulatory frameworks, uncertainty can be a serious obstacle.
- Spanish language - official. Although most of the population, especially the business environment, speaks English, the official language is Spanish, which can lead to additional inconvenience or costs.
Who is eligible for a license in El Salvador
- Token issuers.
- Cryptobrokers and exchanges.
- P2P platforms.
- Cryptocurrency wallets and depositories.
- Cryptocurrency funds and investment companies.
- Broker-dealers.
Cost
The cost level for legalization in the jurisdiction is average.
- Company registration fee: USD 279.26
- Authorized capital: at least USD 2,000
- Application fee for license issuance: varies from USD 0 to USD 5,475 depending on the type of license
- Annual license fee: varies from USD 0 to USD 3 650 or 0.01% of the amount of the permitted public offering (in case of issuance)
Main steps of legalization
Company registration in El Salvador
- Filling out the registration form with key information and preparing data for registration.
- Obtaining a tax number.
- Preparing the founding documents.
- Registration in the commercial register of companies.
Cryptolicense in El Salvador
If the activity is not related to issuance:
- Obtaining preliminary permission in the part of cryptolicense issuance (only for a certain type of license).
- Payment of the primary registration fee (only for a certain type of license).
- Preparing the main package of documentation and submitting an application for the issuance of a cryptolicense.
- Consideration of the application by the regulator and final approval.
- Post-license compliance requirements, including payment for the first year of license validity (only for a certain type of license).
If the activity is related to issuance:
- Submission of an application to the regulator for registration of the offer.
- Preparing an informational document with a description of the offer.
- Attracting a verifying person - an accredited expert to check such a document.
- The expert prepares a report for the regulator with a recommendation.
- Consideration of the application by the regulator and final decision.
- Publication of the announcement and payment of the fee.