Bitcoin Magazine

El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office Hosts Five November Events Led by Herbert and Keiser

El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office, led by Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser of Keiser Report fame, is hosting a series of Bitcoin events this November in El Salvador. Five main events will take place, with plenty of side events hosted by the local community. 

The Bitcoin Capital Summit starts off the official schedule on November 10 at the downtown library and tech center, BINAES. Bitcoin Histórico runs November 11 and 12 at the National Palace and surrounding sites in Centro Histórico. The Renaissance Rodeo follows on November 13 at Lake Ilopango. EmTech AI LATAM is set for November 18 and 19 at the Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios. The Global Bitcoin Circular Economies Summit closes the sequence on November 19 and 20 in El Zonte. 

Bitcoin Capital Summit
The Bitcoin Capital Summit takes place on November 10 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at BINAES in San Salvador. Hosted by Luca Esposito of Blockstream Capital Partners in collaboration with the Bitcoin Office, the evening is framed around Bitcoin’s institutional era from treasury to capital markets. The agenda includes a welcome by Luca Esposito, a keynote by Sean Bill, former CIO of BSTR at Blockstream, and a panel on the institutional Bitcoin stack featuring Pierre Rochard, CEO of The Bitcoin Company, and Juan Diego Sol, Regional Manager, Central America at IBEX. As well as a closing fireside with Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert, among other panels. Registration is free but approval-required through the official Luma page.

Bitcoin Histórico
Bitcoin Histórico runs November 11 and 12 across the Centro Histórico of San Salvador, with keynotes at the National Palace live-streamed to giant LED screens on Plaza Gerardo Barrios. Organized by the National Bitcoin Office, the conference focuses on Bitcoin, financial freedom, and El Salvador’s transformation. Tickets are sold exclusively in Bitcoin at bitcoinhistorico.com. The $350 Trailblazer Seat includes guaranteed seating, access to public sessions, tech demos, community meetups, and an invitation to the afterparty, while locals with Salvadorian ID can buy entry with the $21 Satoshi Chero ticket. 

The $2,100 Genesis Crown Pass adds VIP seating inside the National Palace, fast-track entry, private lounge access with meals, an exclusive merch pack, and priority networking with keynote speakers. 

All tiers include free admission to the Renaissance Rodeo the following day. Promo codes CROWN15 and Cowboy21 have been shared by organizers.

Renaissance Rodeo
The inaugural Renaissance Rodeo takes place on November 13 on the shore of Lake Ilopango. The event features bull riding, mutton busting, barrel racing, music, and barbecue, and is positioned as a celebration of Salvadoran cowboy culture and regenerative agriculture. Details and a waitlist are available at the official site renaissance.rodeo. Holders of any Bitcoin Histórico ticket receive free admission.

EmTech AI LATAM
EmTech AI LATAM runs November 18 and 19 at the Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios. This is the first Latin American edition of the MIT Technology Review conference, organized with Opinno and local partner C² Labs and supported by the Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial. The agenda covers moving AI from pilots to production impact, governance, talent development, and technology trends. Coverage of the announcement is available via Diario El Salvador. Registration is available at emtechai-latam.com. 

Global Bitcoin Circular Economies Summit
The Global Bitcoin Circular Economies Summit takes place November 19 and 20 in El Zonte. Organized by Bitcoin Beach and the Federation of Bitcoin Circular Economies, this is the first public edition of the gathering. Previous events have been invite-only and have gathered top international talent, focused on delivering the benefits of Bitcoin to the developing world. 

Registration is free via the official Bitcoin Beach summit page. Confirmed speakers include Jeremy Almond, Co-Founder and CEO of Paystand, Alexandra Navarro of Paystand, Gerardo Linares, and Evelyn Lemus. The program focuses on Bitcoin as everyday money, merchant adoption, education, and lessons from circular economies across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

This post El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office Hosts Five November Events Led by Herbert and Keiser first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

Bitcoin Magazine

IMF Praises El Salvador — But Still Tries To Scale Back Its Bitcoin Project

The International Monetary Fund has praised El Salvador for improving its economy — but scolded it at the same time for its ongoing Bitcoin experiment. 

In a statement Friday, the IMF said that it had  approved a $139 million disbursement to the Central American nation while also trying to “reduce the state’s involvement in Bitcoin-related activities.”

El Salvador in 2021 made Bitcoin legal tender, much to the ire of the IMF and other major institutions. The Latin American country was at the time negotiating a development loan with the agency. 

“El Salvador’s economy continues to perform strongly” https://t.co/Rvaerha9QA

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) October 1, 2026

The IMF in September said that El Salvador wasn’t buying bitcoin; the country’s Bitcoin Office has repeatedly said that it does buy the cryptocurrency. 

“Economic activity has exceeded expectations, supported by sustained improvements in security and investor confidence, as macroeconomic imbalances continue to be addressed,” the IMF said. 

It continued: “However, certain performance criteria were not met, including on the Bitcoin accumulation front, for which waivers were granted based on strong corrective measures and renewed commitments.”

The IMF further said that the Salvadoran state’s involvement in Bitcoin-related activities is being unwound and that “no further bitcoin accumulation is envisaged beyond the documented donations.”

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele in 2022 said the country would buy one bitcoin per day but it was never clear where the money was coming from — or if he was actually buying at all.  

The IMF said in September that El Salvador was — at least for some time —not using public funds to accumulate bitcoin but rather had received bitcoin from private donations. 

El Salvador and the IMF entered a $1.4 billion loan agreement at the end of December but the fund asked for the country to scale back certain aspects of its Bitcoin strategy.  

The Salvadoran state gifted its citizens bitcoin in 2021 and debuted a wallet with the hope of getting more citizens using the cryptocurrency in the dollarized country. 

President Bukele in 2024 admitted that Salvadorans weren’t using the cryptocurrency to buy things as expected, but always boasted that the government was still stacking sats.  

This post IMF Praises El Salvador — But Still Tries To Scale Back Its Bitcoin Project first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.