09/07/2021 10:28
Clarín.com
World
Updated 09/07/2021 10:38
The virtual wallet launched by the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, to turn Bitcoin into a legal tender failed within hours of being online and the digital revolution proposed by the controversial Central American leader will have to wait, at least until the
technical problems
of the platform
are solved
.
Chivowallet
, the app of the official Bitcoin and Dollar wallet of the Government of El Salvador, was
promoted
ad nauseam by Bukele
, who followed the countdown to its launch as one more fan, demanding that Apple, Google and Huawei raise it as much before to their app stores.
@Chivowallet is already in the hands of @Apple, @Google and @Huawei.
Waiting for it to be available in their stores.
It shouldn't take long.
Let's wait a little while.
- Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) September 7, 2021
Release him!
😡 @ Apple, @Google, @Huawei #BitcoinDay # BTC🇸🇻 https://t.co/pE3LPtj9Uo
- Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) September 7, 2021
The Savior!
LFG!
pic.twitter.com/GYY8gMmABY
- Don Tsell ⚡️🐔 (@Don_Tsell) September 7, 2021
All that previous euphoria, in which Bukele himself tweeted demanding that Big Tech release the downloads from the virtual wallet
suddenly turned off, when in the first hours the application began to fail
.
"For a few moments @chivowallet will not work, we have disconnected it while increasing the capacity of the image capture servers. The installation problems that some people had were for that reason.
We prefer to correct it before reconnecting it,
" reported the president of The Savior.
The application was launched at 5 am and at 8 am it had already been unplugged by the authorities of the Central American country.
"Any data they try to enter at this time will give them an error.
The system is offline while the servers are being increased capacity
. It is a relatively simple problem, but it cannot be fixed with the connected system," explained Bukele.
For a few moments @chivowallet will not work, we have disconnected it while increasing the capacity of the image capture servers.
The installation problems that some people had were for that reason.
We prefer to correct it before reconnecting it.
- Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) September 7, 2021
"Better slowly and with good handwriting. A little patience," asked the head of state.
An official statement from the Presidency of El Salvador even reported on the technical flaws of the launch.
"Similar to a
road or highway repair, it is necessary to temporarily interrupt traffic
in order to make the interventions that are needed. After that, people can circulate and use the roads with ease," it was officially noted.
The statement of the presidency of El Salvador.
In the only hours that Chivowallet was running, the government bought its first
400 coins, at a market value of $ 21 million
.
To promote the use, he gave Salvadorans an amount equivalent to
$ 30 in bitcoins to start operating.
The government also installed 200 Chivo ATMs throughout the country to operate with bitcoins and dollars.
Criticisms of Bitcoin as a legal currency
In Salvadoran colloquial language, "goat" means something very good.
But its detractors assure in the networks that bitcoin
#NoesChivo
because it
exposes state funds to a very volatile asset.
When bitcoin was born in 2009, it was worth pennies on the dollar.
Today its
price exceeds $ 52,000
.
But in the past 12 months it has hit 62,000 or dropped to 35,000, according to comments from investors like Elon Musk or announcements of Chinese regulations.
For this reason, economists and organizations such as the World Bank, the IMF and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are skeptical about the measure.
"One of the first risks that we had noticed is that the costs of this experiment are paid by the population," warned economist Ricardo Castañeda, from the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies.
It really means: "We will give you a little more time to think very well what to spend those 30" stipends. "
🧐 https://t.co/JgBWtKlkld pic.twitter.com/0F096UNrc6
- goat (@chivowallet) September 7, 2021
The government assures that bitcoin will stimulate the economy that, since its dollarization in 2001, has been stagnant with an average growth of between 2 and 4%.
In 2020, it contracted by 7.9% in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.
This year it is projected to grow more than 9%.
The risky measure, according to the government, will contribute to the banking system of the population and will avoid the loss of some 400 million dollars in commissions for the remittances that Salvadorans send from abroad through financial entities.
Diaspora shipments of some
two million Salvadorans represent 22% of GDP
.
The Bukele government, which has a large majority in Parliament, set aside $ 203 million from the budget for its plan, which supports the automatic convertibility of bitcoin to the dollar.
"Stipends" delivered.
😎 https://t.co/hlaNBIzOKC
- goat (@chivowallet) September 7, 2021
The law obliges "every economic agent" to "accept bitcoin as a form of payment when it is offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service."
The government clarified that if the commercial establishment does not want to receive bitcoins in its account, the "Chivo" application has the option of immediately converting the amount to its
equivalent in dollars at the time of the transaction
.
"Nobody is obliged to use it, so it must be remembered that the dollar is the reference currency for prices, wages and accounting records in the country," according to the government.
What this Central American country of 6.6 million inhabitants is seeking, according to Bukele, is "to break with the paradigms of the past" because "El Salvador has the right to advance towards the first world."
With information from AFP
Look also
Cryptocurrencies: the five keys to the implementation of bitcoin in El Salvador
"Democracy in El Salvador is on the edge of the abyss," the worrying warning from Human Rights Watch
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