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Update (Nov. 7 at 09:07 pm UTC): This article has been updated to incorporate commentary from My First Bitcoin.
My First Bitcoin, a Bitcoin education program founded in El Salvador, has ended its collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Education and will transition from running local classes to supporting global Bitcoin education initiatives.&nbsp;
The organization has educated more than 27,000 students in person about Bitcoin (<a href="/bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer">BTC</a>) — primarily in El Salvador — and now plans to support educators and community projects worldwide through open-source materials and training tools.
In a statement issued on <a href="https://myfirstbitcoin.org/my-first-bitcoin-expands-beyond-borders-from-local-to-global/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Friday</a>, My First Bitcoin said the move includes closing its physical office in El Salvador, along with the adoption of a fully remote work model.
“Our ambition was always to change the world, but we had to start with a single student, then a single city, then a single nation and now we are ready to raise the potential impact from 6 million people to 8 billion,” said founder John Dennehy.
Founded as an independent nonprofit in 2021 by American activist and journalist&nbsp;John Dennehy, My First Bitcoin offered <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-s-my-first-bitcoin-how-to-teach-a-nation-about-crypto" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-s-my-first-bitcoin-how-to-teach-a-nation-about-crypto">free education on Bitcoin</a> to Salvadorans. In 2023, the organization partnered with <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-to-introduce-bitcoin-education-in-schools-by-2024" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-to-introduce-bitcoin-education-in-schools-by-2024">El Salvador’s Ministry of Education</a> to integrate its Bitcoin Diploma <a href="https://myfirstbitcoin.org/bitcoin-diploma-course/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="https://myfirstbitcoin.org/bitcoin-diploma-course/">program</a> into public schools by 2024.
Arnold Hubach, director of communications at My First Bitcoin, told Cointelegraph that their partnership with the Ministry of Education concluded in April 2025, “without any specific reason being shared with us.” There are no planned initiatives to replace the program.
The move comes as El Salvador reevaluates its Bitcoin policies after a recent agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-bitcoin-anniversary-mixed-results-4-years" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">El Salvador celebrates Bitcoin anniversary amid mixed results 4 years on</a><a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-bitcoin-anniversary-mixed-results-4-years" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">&nbsp;</a>
<h2 id="el-salvador-and-the-imf">El Salvador and the IMF&nbsp;</h2>
El Salvador adopted <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-s-bitcoin-decision-tracking-adoption-a-year-later" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin as legal tender in September 202</a>1 and began accumulating one <a href="https://x.com/nayibbukele/status/1593113857261965312" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Bitcoin</a> per day a few months later.
In December 2024, the country reached a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-bitcoin-payment-voluntary-imf-loan-deal" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$1.4 billion financing agreement</a> with the IMF, which included commitments to unwind its Bitcoin initiatives, thereby <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/imf-el-salvador-no-voluntary-bitcoin-accumulation-public-sector" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">limiting its BTC accumulation plans</a>.
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 Source: <a href="https://x.com/bitcoinofficesv/status/1881136799462137900" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Bitcoin Office</a>
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As part of the deal, lawmakers amended the country’s Bitcoin law in January to make <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-rushes-new-bitcoin-laws-comply-imf-deal-reuters" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC acceptance voluntary</a> for businesses.
In July, the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-salvador-hasn-t-bought-bitcoin-deal-imf" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">IMF published a report</a> that said El Salvador had not bought any new Bitcoin since signing the deal with the IMF in December.
Despite this, the El Salvador Bitcoin Office’s website <a href="https://bitcoin.gob.sv/%20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">continues</a> to display records of the government’s recurring Bitcoin purchases, with holdings amounting to 6,374 BTC, valued at about $654.8 million at this writing.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/ai-research-freelance-work-news-real-life-tasks-ai-eye/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Why AI sucks at freelance work and real-life tasks: AI Eye</a>

My First Bitcoin ends El Salvador program, pivots to global BTC education

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