One year ago today, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. But the policy has not been popular among Salvadorans and has been implemented poorly. Chivo, the state-created digital wallet meant to facilitate Bitcoin use, had a rollout “plagued with problems. Transactions were slow or failed. Balances disappeared. Most serious were the claims of hundreds of users that their identities had been stolen and someone else had downloaded the $30 worth of Bitcoin bonus. A year in, most of the technical problems appear to be fixed, but skepticism about Chivo as a replacement for cash dollars has not disappeared… Although the government says that 4 million Salvadorans signed up as Chivo users, few continued to use Bitcoin after the initial wave of transactions to use the $30 bonus and after a period of trying out this new app,” writes Tim Muth at
El Salvador’s Bitcoin anniversary
El Salvador’s Bitcoin anniversary
El Salvador’s Bitcoin anniversary
One year ago today, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. But the policy has not been popular among Salvadorans and has been implemented poorly. Chivo, the state-created digital wallet meant to facilitate Bitcoin use, had a rollout “plagued with problems. Transactions were slow or failed. Balances disappeared. Most serious were the claims of hundreds of users that their identities had been stolen and someone else had downloaded the $30 worth of Bitcoin bonus. A year in, most of the technical problems appear to be fixed, but skepticism about Chivo as a replacement for cash dollars has not disappeared… Although the government says that 4 million Salvadorans signed up as Chivo users, few continued to use Bitcoin after the initial wave of transactions to use the $30 bonus and after a period of trying out this new app,” writes Tim Muth at