El Salvador, the first country to offer bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender, has attracted 4 million users of the state-sponsored Chifu BTC wallet in partnership with digital identity provider Netki, according to the announcement.
Netki announced that Chivo Wallet welcomed over 4 million new users within 45 days using the company’s OnboardID flagship Know Your Customer (KYC) / Anti-Money Laundering (AML) product. The platform also claimed to have simplified the set-up process for the 70% of the country’s population that were not previously banks.
El Salvador passed the bitcoin law in June last year and made bitcoin a legal tender in September. Neb Bukele, president of the small Central American country, explained that the goal is to offer digital banking services to more than 70% of the country’s population without a bank. To promote the use of BTC and facilitate transactions, the government has launched a national cryptocurrency called Chivo and $ 30 to distribute BTC.
Major financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, engaged in harsh forecasts while El Salvador warned of unnecessary financial consequences. However, President Bukele continued to promote the use of bitcoin in the country and reprimanded all fear-mongers. After the International Monetary Fund rejected a $ 1 billion rescue package, the Salvadoran government issued volcanic Bitcoin bonds on the advice of Bitcoin champion Max Keizer.
Earlier in the day, President Bukele also responded to Moody’s recent downgrade of El Salvador’s sovereign debt rating by saying, “BREAK: EL SALVADOR DGAF.”
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Chivo helped make El Salvador the first country to make Bitcoin as easy to use as fiat currencies. In addition to transferring money around the world, Chivo wallets are used for daily transactions in restaurants, cafeterias, malls and any other retail market.
The government has also distributed hundreds of bitcoin ATMs across the country that facilitate the transfer of millions across national borders. Chivo has managed to do what the banks could not do a few decades ago.
