El Salvador has passed 500,000 bitcoin users and is opening ATMs in the United States

El Salvador has passed the 500,000 users of the Chivo wallet to conduct bitcoin transactions and opened ATMs in nine cities across the United States, President Nayib Bukele reported on Monday.

“We currently have over half a million (Chivo wallet) users,” Bukele wrote on Twitter, a week after El Salvador became the first country to use bitcoin as legal tender, with the aim to recover its stagnant, dollarized economy 20 years ago.

The “Chivo Wallet” is an electronic wallet that Salvadorans inside and outside the country can download to their mobile phones to carry out transactions in this cryptocurrency. Those who install it receive the equivalent of $ 30 in bitcoin to start working.

The president reported In addition, the 200 ATMs installed in different parts of the country “work perfectly”, as well as the 50 ATMs that have been activated in the US cities of San Francisco, El Doral, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Laredo and McAllen.

“In the United States, we have Chivo ATMs (which you can use to top up without paying commissions) where local law allows,” the president explained.

He detailed that The “technical errors” of the “Chivo Wallet” are corrected “to 95%” and promised that in the next few days it will be fully operational.

The ability to top up with any credit or debit card will also be activated from Tuesday. It also removed the minimum amount of $ 5 needed to transact with other wallets, which has become a dime.

At the local level, according to the sovereign, “every day more and more companies accept payments in bitcoin or dollars, using other applications and also the Chivo wallet”.

“And remember that its use is optionalsaid Bukele.

According to Salvadoran law, all businesses must have the technology to accept bitcoin transactions. However, the business owner can choose between keeping the cryptocurrency or activating the option so that the final income falls in dollars..

The government hopes that the use of bitcoin will help bank the population and capture the more than $ 400 million in commissions for remittances Salvadorians send from abroad through financial entities.

Sending money from abroad is a major driver of Salvadoran economy, equivalent to 22% of GDP. Some 3 million Salvadorans live outside their territory, including 2.5 million in the United States.

(With information from AFP)

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