Around 30% of citizens have used the Bitcoin wallet that the government of El Salvador created. Bukele stated that Chivo could do what traditional banks have not been able to do in four decades.
The Salvadoran government estimates more than 2 million people are using the Chivo Bitcoin (BTC) wallet. That is equivalent to almost 30% of the population of the Central American country and slightly less than nationally banked citizens.
President Nayib Bukele recently said that 2,100,000 people were active users of the wallet of the state. However, he stressed that that figure does not correspond to the number of downloads of the cell phone app.
The Global Findex Database 2017 is the research the Salvadoran government uses as a reference to estimate the reach of banking in the country. That report establishes that 30% of the population of El Salvador had a bank account at that time.
In addition, the state estimates of the Salvadoran population are 6,325,827 inhabitants this year. That figure makes the projection of Bukele about the percentage of the people that use Chivo understandable.
Estimates on the Adoption of BTC and the Chivo Wallet in El Salvador
The Banking Association of El Salvador recently published data on the monthly performance of national banks. However, those financial institutions usually do not clarify the exact number of customers that they have. The most that financial reports do is indicate the number of deposits, withdrawals, and credits, among other economic data.
However, the popularity of the Bitcoin Chivo ATM has been remarkable since its launch on September 7th. When the Bitcoin Law entered into force, those devices began to operate, having difficulties that the government is still solving.
Bukele does not estimate the number of Chivo users only concerning the number of downloads of the app. The head of state could also be including the users of the Bitcoin Chivo ATMs. The number of those machines exceeds 200 units, which are in El Salvador and the United States.
Hundreds of people recently went to those ATMs but had to stand in long lines to use them. That phenomenon of Bitcoin adoption is an unprecedented event in the world.
Opponents of the government of Bukele and the establishment of Bitcoin as legal tender even set fire to some devices. That situation seems to lead to the majority rejection by citizens who use BTC. They see the usefulness of the pioneering cryptocurrency for personal finance, savings, shopping, business, and remittance transfers in El Salvador.
El Salvador first bought the cryptocurrency on September 6th, before the Bitcoin Law entered into force. With their latest acquisition of 150 BTC, they totaled 700 BTC in the state’s treasury.
In the last week, Bukele said that his government made a new acquisition of Bitcoin at a low cost. He stressed that he bought the dip and advised buying on the decline to avoid suffering losses. The head of state knows that the cryptocurrency is the solution for the Central American country.
By Willmen Blanco
