The government of El Salvador and the American financial technology provider – AlphaPoint – joined forces to improve the technology for the Chivo wallet. The feature allows access to bitcoin for millions of Salvadorans.
Last year, El Salvador put its name in the spotlight after becoming the first state to accept bitcoin as a legal tender inside its borders. The authorities also introduced the Chivo wallet – a crypto wallet where locals can facilitate BTC transactions.
At first look, it was met with huge enthusiasm among locals. At the end of September, President Nayib Bukele announced that the wallet had amassed 2.1 million users or around 30% of the Salvadoran population.
Nonetheless, the mass adoption led to some issues such as slow transactions, blocked accounts, unauthorized charges, and other technical glitches.
To resolve these problems, the government teamed up with AlphaPoint – a New York City-based software firm that supports crypto projects. Specifically, the authorities vowed to change the frontend and backend technology provider for its Chivo wallet with the help of its new partner.
Speaking on the matter was Igor Telyatnikov – Co-Founder and CEO of AlphaPoint:
“No one else has attempted to execute a project of this nature. We at AlphaPoint are honored to be involved in the process and provide the reliable, scaled solutions needed for this effort. The Chivo Wallet app is currently supporting millions of Salvadorans, many of them accessing financial services for the first time.”
The upgrade of El Salvador’s crypto wallet came a few days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the government of the Latin American country to remove bitcoin’s legal tender status. It opined that such legislation poses a “large risk” to the economy and could create “contingent liabilities.”
Shortly after, El Salvador’s Treasury Minister Alejandro Zelaya responded to the criticism saying that “no international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.”
Apart from embracing the primary cryptocurrency as an official payment method, the Salvadoran authorities have also bought bitcoin on a macro-economic level. The latest purchase came at the end of January when the nation accumulated 410 BTC worth $15 million (at the moment of the deal). Currently, the state has 1,801 BTC, equivalent to nearly $70 million (calculated at today’s prices).
Additionally, El Salvador involved bitcoin in some extravagant endeavors. In October last year, the government said it would use some of its profits accumulated from bitcoin purchases (back then, they totaled nearly $4 million) to create a massive pet hospital.
A month later, the authorities vowed to employ some BTC revenue into building 20 schools. Interestingly, those would educate the locals about the leading digital asset and its underlying blockchain technology.