The government’s official Chivo Wallet have experienced some technical issues following it debut and Bitcoin has seen a 10% price crash since becoming a legal tender in El Salvador.
The difficulties of Bitcoin becoming legal tender in El Salvador have been excruciating. There have been protests in the streets, critics imprisoned without charge by police, and even international condemnation.
A sense of national insecurity has dominated the last 90 days, ever since President Nayib Bukele launched the country on this path.
However, now that Bitcoin is officially legal tender in El Salvador, the experiment’s opening few hours have been everything but joyful, beginning with the market’s apparent reaction to today’s launch.
Bukele said yesterday night that the country has purchased 200 Bitcoin (worth around $10 million at the moment) and that it had already purchased 400 BTC for its reserves.
At the time, the price of Bitcoin was approaching $53,000 per coin, allegedly propelled by investor enthusiasm. Bitcoin, on the other hand, plunged by more than 10% hours later, causing El Salvador to lose its first few million dollars as a result of the asset’s volatility.
Bukele answered today by claiming he bought the dip, bringing the country’s total Bitcoin holdings to 550. He didn’t say how much he paid for it.
Aside from today’s market fluctuations, El Salvador’s maiden day with Bitcoin as legal cash was plagued by technological issues.
The official Bitcoin wallet of the government, known as the “Chivo Wallet,” is now inaccessible on the official Android app store, forcing users to rely on third-party stores with less transparent security regulations.
The government encourages citizens to use Huawei’s App Gallery.
Apple, on the other hand, released the Chivo Wallet iOS link earlier today.
However, anyone who was able to obtain the wallet through a third party has learned that it is no longer functional.
According to Bukele, the Chivo development team chose to put the wallet on hold in order to update the servers ahead of the expected severe workload.
“Any data entered at this time will result in an error. The system is unavailable while the servers’ capacity is enhanced. It’s a basic issue, but it can’t be resolved through the online system “In an official statement, he stated.
Users can use their preferred Bitcoin wallet in the meantime, albeit they will not be eligible for the $30 in Bitcoin gift that the government is presenting. Only Chivo users have access to this.
