In just three weeks, roughly one-third of El Salvador’s population has started to employ the Bitcoin wallet Chivo actively. As such, the country’s president updated that more people will soon be using the app than they have bank accounts in all local banking organizations combined.
- The smallest and most densely populated Central American country made history earlier this year when it announced it will legalize bitcoin within its borders.
- The move received many controversial outtakes, from BTC proponents praising it to global organizations like the IMF criticizing it.
- Nevertheless, El Salvador indeed proceeded and voted bitcoin to be a legal tender, which became official on September 7th.
- Although some reports claim that there have been demonstrations against the decision, the country has purchased 700 bitcoin on a few occasions.
- Upon legalizing BTC, president Nayib Bukele promised locals that they can receive $30 worth of the asset if they downloaded a Bitcoin wallet called Chivo.
- The app’s launch didn’t go without its technical issues, but, as the president frequently updates, the engagement levels have already been impressive.
- Bukele noted on Saturday that 2.1 million people are already actively using the wallet (not just downloaded). As of 2019, the entire population was 6.5 million – meaning that more than 30% of the locals are employing the app.
- Moreover, Bukele said that despite this relatively short period of three weeks, the wallet “has more users than any bank in El Salvador and is moving fast to have more users than all banks in El Salvador combined.”
Featured Image Courtesy of Al Jazeera