El Salvador, the first country to accept Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, has re-launched Chivo wallet to address existing issues with local BTC transfers. With AlphaPoint integration, the updated Chivo wallet is expected to conduct instant bitcoin transactions at low fees while addressing stability and scalability issues.
In the first month after BTC became legal tender, President Naib Bukele announced that 2.1 million Salvadorans had joined the Chivo wallet, representing 75% of the population, by the end of the year. However, mass adoption has faced a number of obstacles, including systemic problems and lack of resources.
The government of El Salvador is seeking a permanent solution for more than 4 million BTC users, working with White Label infrastructure provider AlphaPoint, with a focus on Chivo wallet stability, uptime, scalability, and social impact.
According to the official statement, Chivo intends to extend its current usage in dealing with the consumer to include other daily transactions such as paying bills, taxes, and many other daily Bitcoin transactions:
“The project hopes that Chivo will also install 1,500 Bitcoin ATMs across the country to facilitate the operation of El Salvador.”
Newer AlphaPoint integration will expand support for the El Salvador government’s sales pages, websites, and administrative console. Additionally, the update includes “improved Lightning integration for nearly instant and affordable Bitcoin transactions via QR and Lightning addresses.” AlphaPoint CEO and co-founder Igor Teletnikov said:
“El Salvador and President Bukele are truly leading the way in the country’s first major Bitcoin trial. We are honored to be a part of this process and provide the scalable and reliable solutions needed for this massive project.”
Related: El Salvador Explores Low-Interest Bitcoin-Backed Loans
In an effort to explore broader use cases for BTC, the government of El Salvador is exploring the possibility of lending BTC at low interest rates.
As Cointelegraph reported, Monica Tahir, Director of International Communications for Technology and Economics in El Salvador, hosted a Facebook Live event to share the BTC low-interest loan program for small and micro businesses. In an interview with Cointelegraph, she said:
“Bitcoin microloans will provide access to digital money for workers in the non-bank sector and help them build a credit history. El Salvador’s economy will be boosted by expanding small business opportunities.”
