SAN SALVADOR
El Salvador will privatize or close the “Chivo” cryptocurrency wallet created by President Nayib Bukele when he made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021, an official said.
The announcement came after the Central American country’s government struck a $1.4 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund dealing with the controversial Bitcoin adoption.
While Bitcoin remains legal tender in El Salvador, Chivo is “being sold or liquidated,” Stacy Herbert, director of Bukele’s National Bitcoin Office, wrote on social media platform X.
She did not say how many people used the digital wallet created by the government in September 2021 for Salvadorans to make payments in Bitcoin.
“El Salvador will continue to buy Bitcoin [at possibly an accelerated pace] for its strategic Bitcoin reserve,” Herbert added.
In 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, helping Bukele revive a dollar-based, remittance-dependent economy.
On December 1, the gang leader admitted in a speech that the introduction of Bitcoin was “the most unpopular action this government has taken.”
According to a Central American University survey, around 88 percent of Salvadorans did not use Bitcoin in 2023.
According to the National Bitcoin Office, El Salvador owns 5,969 Bitcoins worth around $582 million.
