Bitcoin adoption highest in El Salvador and Venezuela, Cornell report finds

Cornell University has found that Bitcoin ownership is highest in El Salvador, Venezuela, and Nigeria after surveying 25,880 people across 25 countries.

Cornell University’s Bitcoin Adoption Index found that people in countries with unstable currencies, limited banking access, or difficulty obtaining U.S. dollars were more likely to use Bitcoin as a financial tool rather than solely as a speculative investment.

Researchers examined ownership, knowledge, trust, and usage across 25 markets. Morning Consult conducted the 125-question survey between Dec. 16, 2024, and March 10, 2025, collecting responses from 25,880 participants.

The study was commissioned by Cornell and developed with the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy’s Institute for Technology Policy, the Cornell Bitcoin Club, the Human Rights Foundation, and the Reynolds Foundation.

Bitcoin adoption follows economic pressure

El Salvador led the ownership ranking, with 72% of respondents saying they had owned Bitcoin at some point, according to the Cornell Bitcoin Club’s published findings. Venezuela and Nigeria also reported high exposure despite facing different monetary and regulatory conditions.

According to the study, Bitcoin often works as a “pragmatic workaround” in economies where residents struggle to protect their savings, obtain dollars, or use reliable banking services. The researchers linked high ownership to local financial needs, including inflation, currency controls and limited access to international payment systems.

One Venezuelan respondent described Bitcoin as “faster, cleaner, and less risky” than other methods of obtaining U.S. dollars. Venezuela has long operated with an informal dollar market as residents seek alternatives to the bolívar and restrictions within the country’s financial system.

Separate data from TRM Labs supports the report’s description of digital assets as practical financial tools in Venezuela. TRM ranked the country 17th for retail crypto activity in the first quarter of 2026, estimating $17.9 billion in attributed volume. Its data showed that USDT accounted for 90.2% of active Binance peer-to-peer listings involving the Venezuelan bolívar in April.

While Cornell’s research focuses on Bitcoin ownership, the TRM figures show that dollar-linked stablecoins hold a larger role in current Venezuelan trading. TRM attributed the pattern to bolívar depreciation, capital controls, restricted banking access and the country’s established informal exchange markets.

In Nigeria, one participant told Cornell researchers that Bitcoin had reduced the financial difficulties of traveling across Africa.

“I’ve visited six African countries and felt no worries because I knew I could spend Bitcoin,” the respondent said.

The index also found differences between ownership groups. Men were more likely than women to own Bitcoin in every surveyed country, while people aged 30 to 44 were the most consistent owners across the sample.

Income produced a less-than-expected result. In 23 of the 25 countries, lower-income respondents reported the highest ownership rates. People with more formal education led adoption in every market except Lebanon, according to the study.

El Salvador ownership differs from daily Bitcoin use

El Salvador’s position at the top of Cornell’s ranking follows more than five years of government support for Bitcoin. The country introduced the cryptocurrency as legal tender in September 2021 and launched the Chivo wallet with a $30 Bitcoin incentive for users.

An El Salvadoran participant told Cornell researchers that “no one controls Bitcoin, which means we all own it,” capturing the decentralization argument behind some support for the asset.

However, the Cornell ownership data measures whether respondents have ever held Bitcoin, not whether they continue to use it for payments. The distinction matters in El Salvador because recent local surveys have recorded low transaction use even after the government distributed Bitcoin through Chivo.

In August, crypto.news reported declining Bitcoin payments in El Zonte, the coastal community known as Bitcoin Beach. Bitcoin Core contributor Jon Atack said one restaurant received its first Bitcoin payment of the month when he paid for lunch, although he described the encounter as anecdotal rather than evidence of nationwide activity.

A Universidad Centroamericana survey cited in the report found that 8.1% of Salvadorans used Bitcoin to buy goods or make payments in 2024, down from 25.7% in 2021, 21% in 2022, and 12% in 2023. Another poll by Universidad Francisco Gavidia found that 7.5% used it for transactions during 2024.

Cornell’s figures can coexist with those results because a respondent who received the Chivo incentive or previously bought Bitcoin would count as an owner even if that person later stopped using it. The index found that former owners outnumbered current owners in 18 of the 25 surveyed countries.

El Salvador also changed its Bitcoin rules after reaching a 40-month, $1.4 billion financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund in February 2025. Under the revised framework, private businesses can choose whether to accept Bitcoin, taxes must be paid in U.S. dollars, and the government no longer guarantees conversions between the two assets.

Bitcoin knowledge remains low despite high awareness

Ownership did not always come with an understanding of Bitcoin’s core features. The report found that 58% of respondents were unaware that the protocol limits the total supply to 21 million coins.

Cornell’s country-level data showed a similar gap in the United States. About 85% of Americans said they had heard of Bitcoin, and 38% considered themselves knowledgeable about it, yet only 6% knew that its supply is capped at 21 million. The survey also found that 24% of U.S. respondents had owned Bitcoin at some point.

Across all 25 countries, respondents gave Bitcoin an average trust score of 4.67 out of 10. Traditional assets, including gold, real estate, and national currencies, generally received higher trust ratings, while 45% of participants viewed Bitcoin as carrying a level of risk comparable to stocks.

Financial pressure was associated with higher ownership and trust in several markets, according to the research. In 22 of the 25 countries, respondents who distrusted their government were more likely to own Bitcoin. Distrust of financial institutions was also linked to higher ownership in 16 countries.

Japan stood at the other end of the adoption table. Some 88% of Japanese respondents said they had never owned Bitcoin, while 7% reported current ownership. Cornell’s findings placed Japan among the stable, high-income economies where established payment systems and access to financial products reduced the need for Bitcoin as an alternative.

U.S. ownership outpaces understanding of Bitcoin supply

For U.S. readers, the survey separates market participation from technical knowledge. Nearly one-quarter of American respondents reported owning Bitcoin at some stage, but only a small share understood its fixed issuance limit.

The results also show that U.S. adoption follows a different pattern from El Salvador, Venezuela, and Nigeria. Cornell linked ownership in financially constrained markets to inflation, banking access and the need to move money, while U.S. participants have access to regulated exchanges, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds and established dollar-based payment services.

Institutional interest does not necessarily translate into official monetary adoption. A June 2025 survey covered in a Bitcoin reserve report found that only 3% of participating central banks expected to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve within the following decade. Around 10% planned to increase exposure to digital assets, with most interest directed toward tokenized securities rather than cryptocurrencies.

Cornell’s research project received $1 million to study how people living under authoritarian governments use Bitcoin and stablecoins to pursue financial security. Alongside the 25-country survey, researchers conducted about 250 interviews with users, including business owners, remittance senders, and political activists.