El Salvador upgrades Chivo wallet and adds 1,500 BTC ATMs

El Salvador, the first country to adopt BTC  as legal tender, has improved Chivo’s internal wallet to address local BTC transfers. With AlphaPoint integration, the updated Chivo wallet is expected to perform instant low-fee BTC transactions while eliminating stability and scalability issues.

Improved Chivo wallet and other BTC ATMs

During the first month after the legalization of BTC, President Nauib Bukele announced that 2.1 million Salvadorans had joined Chivo wallet. However, mass adoption has encountered numerous obstacles, including systemic problems and funding.

The Salvadoran government, which was looking for an improved solution for more than 4 million BTC users, began working with AlphaPoint infrastructure developers to focus on the stability and availability of the Chivo wallet, scalability and convenience.

According to an official announcement, Chivo will expand its current use case to include transactions for energy bills, taxes and other daily payments.

In addition, the country has begun the process of installing another 1,500 BTC ATMs to serve Salvadorans across the country.

AlphaPoint’s recent integration will expand support to the Salvadoran at point of sales, websites and administrative government systems. In addition, the update includes improved “lightning network integration for near-instantaneous, low-cost BTC transactions via QR and Lightning addresses.”

El Salvador and President Bukele are truly leading the world with this first major nationwide BTC experiment. We are honored to be part of this process and to provide the scalable and reliable solutions needed for this massive project.

Igor Teluatnikov, CEO and co-founder of AlphaPoint.

The Salvadoran government is also currently exploring the possibility of borrowing at lower interest rates in BTC, which should stimulate the work of small and medium-sized enterprises.