El Salvador: Chivo Wallet Has 2.1 M Users, Soon Bigger Than All Local Banks Combined

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced that 2.1 million citizens are using the new government-backed Chivo cryptocurrency wallet. He also said that the current rate of user adoption soon make it bigger than all the banks in the country combined.

Nayib Bukele shared this update with his 2.9 million Twitter followers. He said that Chivo “now has more users than any bank in El Salvador” after just three weeks in operation. He also said that despite Chivo not being a bank, it already has more users than any bank in El Salvador and that it is only a matter of time before the wallet’s adoption surpasses all banks in El Salvador combined.

El Salvador launched the state-issued wallet as El Salvador officially recognized Bitcoin as legal tender early September. Chivo enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments in Bitcoin (BTC) or dollars (USD) from anywhere in the world. Merchants must offer the ability to use both currencies. However, some merchants saying they would rather lose sales than accept bitcoin payments.

The wallet is available on both Android and Apple devices. Latin American cryptocurrency exchange Bitso is the core service provider for the Chivo wallet. There are now over 200 bitcoin ATMs in El Salvador, the third-largest number of ATMs after the U.S. and Canada.

President Bukele’s goal is 2.5 million Salvadorans, which is approximately 39% of the population. As an incentive, the government offers $30 in bitcoin when people download the wallet app.

From the recent announcements by the president, it would seem that Bitcoin Law is being received positively by the citizens of El Salvador. However, many protestors have taken the streets to assert their disapproval.

However, no everyone seemed to agree. Some protesters set fire to a brand-new Bitcoin machine, while others held signs reading “Bukele Dictator”. According to the protesters, the president is using authoritarian means to tighten his grip on power. They gathered in the capital San Salvador on the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence, with placards that read “No to Bitcoin” and “Respect the Constitution”.

Also, there were some technical issues during the initial rollout. In the first week, one machine completed only three successful transactions out of many. A lot of Salvadorans also do not trust bitcoin because of its volatility.

According Sherlock Communications‘ recent survey, 54% of Salvadorans are not familiar with Bitcoin.

Source: El Salvador: Chivo Wallet Has 2.1 M Users, Soon Bigger Than All Local Banks – Fintechs.fi

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