Survey: More Than 70% of Salvadorans Believe the Bitcoin Law Has Not Improved Their Personal Finances

June 6, 2022 Bitcoin.com

El Salvador relaunches Chivo wallet, plans to deploy 1,500 Bitcoin ATMs

February 2, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

Seeking a permanent solution for over 4 million BTC users, the government of El Salvador focuses on Chivo wallet’s stability and uptime, scalability and social impact.

El Salvador, the first country to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender, has relaunched its in-house Chivo wallet to address the existing challenges of BTC transfers locally. With AlphaPoint integration, the updated Chivo wallet is expected to carry out instantaneous low-fee Bitcoin transactions while fixing concerns related to stability and scalability.

Within the first month of establishing BTC as a legal tender, President Nayib Bukele announced that Chivo wallet onboarded 2.1 million Salvadorans, which by the end of the year amasses 75% of the population. However, the mass adoption met with numerous roadblocks, including system issues and missing funds.

Seeking a permanent solution for over 4 million BTC users, the government of El Salvador partnered with a white label infrastructure provider, AlphaPoint, focusing heavily on Chivo wallet’s stability and uptime, scalability, and social impact.

According to the official statement, Chivo intends to expand its current consumer-faced use cases to other day-to-day transactions such as simplifying payments of home utilities, taxes and many other daily transactions in Bitcoin:

“The project has aspirations to Chivo is also in the process of deploying 1,500 Bitcoin ATMs around the country to more readily serve the Salvadoran population.”

The latest AlphaPoint integration will extend support for point-of-sale systems, websites and the Salvadoran government’s administrative console. In addition, the update includes improved “Lightning integration for nearly instantaneous low-fee Bitcoin transactions via QR and Lightning addresses.” AlphaPoint CEO and co-founder Igor Telyatnikov said:

“El Salvador and President Bukele are truly leading globally with this first major experiment in Bitcoin adoption at a country-wide level. We are honored to be involved in the process and provide the scalable and reliable solutions needed for this massive undertaking.”

In pursuit of exploring greater use cases for BTC, the government of El Salvador is exploring the possibility of BTC loans with lower interest rates.

As Cointelegraph reported, Mónica Taher, El Salvador’s Director of Technology and Economy International Affairs, hosted a Facebook Live event to share the agenda of providing low-interest BTC loans to small and micro-businesses. Speaking to Cointelegraph, she said:

“The Bitcoin small loans will provide access to digital money for the unbanked while helping them create a credit history. El Salvador’s economy will strengthen by empowering its small businesses.”

Turkish and Salvadoran presidents meet, Bitcoiners left disappointed

January 21, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

The Turkish President welcomed Nayib Bukele to Ankara for an official state visit. Anyone expecting a Bitcoin talk left disappointed.

Bitcoin (BTC) took more than just a beating in the markets. The orange coin got the cold shoulder as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan welcomed his Salvadoran peer Nayib Bukele in the capital of Turkey to talk about a number of topics. While Bitcoin failed to be a talking point, it did not stop the Twitter rumor mill from going into overdrive.

As part of the state visit, Bukele and Erdoğan kicked off with an official ceremony. Shortly afterward, they inaugurated the new Salvadoran embassy before agreeing on six deals covering the economy, trade, defense, diplomacy and education.

The trade deals seek to increase trade volume between the two countries Turkey to $500 million in 5 years. Trade volumes for 2020 and 2021 were $27 million and almost $50 million respectively.

Mainstream media outlets watched closely to see if Bukele would attempt to orange-pill Erdoğan. However, there was no mention of Bitcoin or cryptocurrency during Thursday proceedings.

That did not stop Twitter from speculating and deceiving audiences about the nature of the encounter. A coordinated news burst made by fake Twitter accounts imitating popular accounts @Deltaone, @Zerohedge, and a Bukele parody account @LaDictatore simultaneously announced that Turkey would announce Bitcoin as legal tender by February 2022.

The announcement was false. LaDictatore’s account has since been suspended but the screenshot of their announcement lives on:

In the hours following the fake news, the Bitcoin bulls regrouped to pump the price to within touching distance of $43,000 before falling off a cliff to $38,000 this morning.

As the Turkish Lira continues to struggle, analysts expected Bukele to make the case for Bitcoin. Given that the Turkish ruling party recently held a meeting in the metaverse, the tide may be turning. And if any discussion did happen Thursday, it happened behind closed doors.

President Bukele fires back at critics on ‘Bitcoin experiment’

December 24, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

The adoption of Bitcoin is changing El Salvador’s economic landscape, according to the Salvadoran president.

On Thursday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele reaffirmed his belief for Bitcoin (BTC) supremacy on Twitter once again, this time stating that after widespread adoption occurs, “it’s game over for fiat.”

The Salvadoran president has been a mainstay in news headlines due to his government’s regular BTC purchases and absolute pro-Bitcoin stance. He has made frequent statements and comments to support the original cryptocurrency while refusing to budge in the face of criticism that Bitcoin is a bad idea for the nation.

President Bukele’s recent tweet comes as the international community launches a barrage against El Salvador for its “Bitcoin experiment.”

The International Monetary Fund criticized El Salvador’s move to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in June, but the country nevertheless passed it and began accepting BTC as legal money in September. Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, is a known critic of Bitcoin. More recently, while speaking at the University of Cambridge Students’ Union, Bailey expressed his concerns over El Salvador’s decision to use Bitcoin as a currency due to its extreme volatility.

What has been called by international organizations as “The #Bitcoin Experiment”, is nothing more than the world watching how mass adoption changes a country’s economy.

If it’s for the good, it’s game over for FIAT.

El Salvador is the spark that ignites the real revolution.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) December 23, 2021

However, Bukele fired back at his critics, pointing out that while the rest of the world regarded El Salvador as a “Bitcoin experiment,” it was transforming its economy with Bitcoin mass adoption. Bukele also claimed that when fiat is no longer a factor compared to BTC’s dominance, El Salvador will be regarded as the spark that starts the real revolution.

Since adopting Bitcoin as legal currency, El Salvador has used Bitcoin profits or the “surplus” from its Bitcoin Trust account to finance the construction of 20 schools. In mid-October, Bukele announced that the government would spend $4 million from the Bitcoin Trust to build a new veterinary hospital in San Salvador.

Bukele’s latest riff comes as El Salvador recently bought 21 BTC on Tuesday to celebrate the “last 21st day of the year 21 of the 21st century” and commemorate the scarcity of Bitcoin as its supply is limited to 21 million BTC.

El Salvador acts on Bitcoin price dip and buys 150 BTC

September 20, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Adoption

El Salvador didn’t miss the chance to buy the dip as the Bitcoin price fell back to $45,000 after a bullish week.

Despite warnings from global agencies regarding its adoption of Bitcoin (BTC), El Salvador's government continues to seize market opportunities.

As the Bitcoin price fell below $46,000 on Monday morning, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter that the country has “bought the dip.” With 150 new coins, the Central American government now holds 700 BTC, worth close to $32 million at the time of writing.

In an obvious nod to the “not financial advice” disclaimers shown around the crypto ecosystem, Bukele shared his “presidential advice” by reminding that “They can never beat you if you buy the dips.”

Presidential advice
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) September 20, 2021

As reported by Cointelegraph, El Salvador bought another dip on the day BTC became legal tender in the country, when Bitcoin experienced a flash crash to below $43,000.

El Salvador’s move toward adoption got the crypto universe excited, especially with the possible tax exemption for Bitcoin investors. However, the government’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender is not totally free of problems.

Aside from protests and marches against the government’s Bitcoin move, credit rating agency Standard and Poor's Global said that the adoption “has immediate negative implications” for the country’s credit rating. S&P also claimed the move would hurt El Salvador’s chances of securing a $1 billion loan agreement from the International Monetary Fund.

El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender on Sept. 7. The government held 400 BTC then. By taking advantage of two price dips in two weeks, purchasing 150 coins each time, El Salvador raised its Bitcoin holdings to 700 BTC.

Majority of Salvadorans Skeptical of BTC as Currency, Poll Finds

July 9, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Salvador

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