El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said that 2.1 million residents of the country are actively using the Chivo cryptocurrency wallet.
2.1 million Salvadorans are ACTIVELY USING @chivowallet (not downloads).
Chivo is not a bank, but in less than three weeks it now has more users than any bank in El Salvador and is moving fast to have more users than all banks in El Salvador combined.
This is wild!#Bitcoin🇸🇻
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) September 25, 2021
According to Worldometer, El Salvador’s population was about 6.5 million in 2021. About a third of them use Chivo, according to Mr Bukele.
«Less than three weeks after Bitcoin was legalized in the country, Chivo already has more users than any Salvadoran bank,» wrote the president.
Bukele conceded that the crypto wallet could outrun the audience of all the banks in the country combined.
In June, the authorities promised to give residents $30 in bitcoin. Journalist Aaron van Wirdum suggested that ‘active use’ of Chivo is explained only by receiving this money.
(Using the wallet just to get the free $30 out counts as «actively using» here, I assume?)
— Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) September 26, 2021
On September 7, the law recognizing Bitcoin as legal tender took effect in El Salvador. The authorities bought 550 BTC into the government fund to underpin the trading of the first cryptocurrency and the dollar. On September 20, El Salvador bought an additional 150 BTC.
In July, a poll showed that only 20% of citizens approved the president’s initiative to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender. According to another survey in September, 70% of respondents were opposed to digital gold.
In August, Salvadorans took to the streets protesting the legalization of Bitcoin. Demonstrators expressed concern about potential increases in corruption arising from cryptocurrency usage and called for scrapping the obligation to accept the digital asset as payment.
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