President Bukele claims 2.1 million Salvadorans ‘actively’ using the new Chivo wallet
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has claimed in a recent post that around 2.1 million of the country’s citizens are using the government’s newly launched Chivo cryptocurrency wallet.
In what seems to be the President offering an insight into the apparent success of Salvador’s Bitcoin (BTC) gambit, Bukele updated his 2.9 million Twitter followers with the number on Saturday noon.
Bukele also claimed that Chivo’s current user base is now “more than any bank in El Salvador”, the post coming within just three weeks of the Chivo wallet coming into effect. He indicated that it would be only a matter of time when Chivo adoption rates in El Salvador would overshadow all banks in El Salvador combined.
Chivo was launched by the Salvadoran government in early September, with Bitcoin being the official legal tender. The move was met with mixed reactions by the citizens and analysts. The former criticized the decision, and the latter said this step could potentially be a landmark stint as a case study among countries in the region.
The Salvadoran Chivo wallet enables individuals and organizations to send and receive payments in either Bitcoins or dollars globally. The wallet has been made available on Android and Apple devices, with Mexican crypto exchange Bitso being its core provider.
As per Bukele’s latest update, the Bitcoin Law in El Salvador is taking a favourable turn in the country against its initial criticism. Even though hundreds of anti-government protestors marched into the streets on September 15 in opposition to the Chivo wallet, Bukele has claimed citizens have already started adopting it.
Mass adoption of Chivo has also been partly due to the Salvadoran government airdropping $30 worth of BTC to every citizen who is an account holder. As per recent research conducted by São Paulo-based Sherlock Communications, a little more than half of Salvadorans have absolutely no familiarity with Bitcoin.
El Salvador’s government had recently seen volatile price swings for the digital token. It was recorded to have “bought the dip” on at least two price drops — one on September 7 and another dated September 20 — bringing its total holdings to 700 BTC.
