El Salvador has become the first country to make #Bitcoin legal tender! 🇸🇻

[DdmrDdmr]

A Salvadorian Company, called K1, is launching a LN bitcoin ATM that allows one to purchase small amounts of BTCs with coins, ranging the coins from 0,05$ to 1$. They’ve currently got a couple of prototypes in The Bitcoin House, and they intend to launch the product officially by the end of month.

The idea is not that of creating their own network of said LN coin-based ATMs, but rather to sell them off to small businesses and such at around 1500$, and let the purchasers make a profit from each purchasing TX (which each business can set themselves). Their goal is to sell 5000 of such units this year alone.

For obvious reasons, it requires the use of a LN based wallet, or Chivo.

The model above differs to that shown in the video linked below, so I figure they’ve gone over different carcase prototypes for the ATM.

Not sure how much market there’ll be for this type of solution.

See:
https://diarioelsalvador-com.translate.goog/k1-mini-el-primer-cajero-bitcoin-desarrollado-por-salvadorenos/187680/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=es&_x_tr_pto=wapp
(In Spanish) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou3Gkt7cLlY&list=PL3CQ2QtkmQtDW04NGl5JTcsoaCimw740Y&index=17

[mia_houston]

there are so many countries that say they want to adopt bitcoin but so far this has not been realized, but this is different from what is being done by the country of El Salvador where at this time they have adopted bitcoin widely in the country, and they have even created several Bitcoin ATMs so that transactions can be carried out as a whole, we really hope that the adoption by El Salvador can at least have a good impact on the survival of bitcoin in the future considering that bitcoin is currently experiencing a significant pricedecline.

Currently only El Salvador is the country only one that has succeeded in adopting bitcoin as a whole in their country, although it continues to receive criticism from western countries and also the IMF, this has not made President Nayib Bukulele give up his intention and instead he continues to add to the portfolio of assets they currently have, trust towards the future of bitcoin made President Nayib Bukulele believe if adopting bitcoin would improve their economy and get out of dependence on the US dollar, I think now other countries see El Salvador as an example of bitcoin adoption and if El Salvador succeeds in improving the country's economy, of course the country other countries will soon follow El Salvador in adopting bitcoin in later.

[e_abrams]

It did take a lot of courage to make this step, I bet. It takes even more courage to keep going even with outside criticism, and there has been quite a bit of it.
What I wonder the most, however, is which will be the next country to do so, and when. I cannot imagine that El Salvador will remain the only one.

[suzanne5223]

Really good news for crypto holders, finally there really is a country that has officially legalized BItcoin in its entirety as a currency.

Are you from this world? Just kidding.
I said that because this is no longer news and if I could remember correctly the decision was made last year September. Meanwhile, Russia is the next country thats planning to legalize cryptocurrency.

El Salvador needs to be applauded and applauded for his courage and belief in adopting Bitcoin as a currency.

I believe El Salvador understand the importance and potential of Bitcoin more than we think because they currently reject the IMF advice about dropping Bitcoin as legal tender.

[JayJuanGee]

El Salvador needs to be applauded and applauded for his courage and belief in adopting Bitcoin as a currency.

I believe El Salvador understand the importance and potential of Bitcoin more than we think because they currently reject the IMF advice about dropping Bitcoin as legal tender.

I am not sure if your framing of the matter is correct suzanne5223.

Many of us know that there is some momentum that comes when any of us makes a decision and implements it.  Once a decision is made and then implemented (even if ONLY partially or "in progress"), at point, we are no longer starting from scratch in regards to just throwing out the whole thing.  So, if a third party (whether powerful or having some other things to offer - carrots and sticks), they have to get beyond the mere proposal that the law should be reversed when momentum has been created both through reaching the decision and various implementation steps that have already been taken.

For sure, it is not impossible for El Salvador to reverse itself, but surely seems to make more sense that some time would have to pass, and really with something like bitcoin, there are a variety of rippling effects costs/benefits that come from putting the system in place, and surely some of the benefits (and costs for that matter) come further down the road and may well not be so apparent until further passage of time.. including measuring matters along the way.. building and costs of maintenance and seeing whether benefits outweigh costs (surely too soon to measure with some of the tangible and intangible measuring matters).

[lalabotax]

I believe El Salvador understand the importance and potential of Bitcoin more than we think because they currently reject the IMF advice about dropping Bitcoin as legal tender.

More than we think? Is El Salvador having prior investors in Bitcoin? Or do you think El Salvador has done great research related to Bitcoin future? Although El Salvador braves to invest in Bitcoin, I don't get a clue if they are experienced enough in Bitcoin investment. They reject IMF advice because IMF states something annoying for them. In this matter, rejecting IMF advice is a must, how can El Salvador cancles what they just decided.

[Fatunad]

I believe El Salvador understand the importance and potential of Bitcoin more than we think because they currently reject the IMF advice about dropping Bitcoin as legal tender.

More than we think? Is El Salvador having prior investors in Bitcoin? Or do you think El Salvador has done great research related to Bitcoin future? Although El Salvador braves to invest in Bitcoin, I don't get a clue if they are experienced enough in Bitcoin investment. They reject IMF advice because IMF states something annoying for them. In this matter, rejecting IMF advice is a must, how can El Salvador cancles what they just decided.

They are standing their ground in towards the decisions that they had made and wouldnt tend to back out on what they have done.Into those times on which bitcoins price dipped on 34k then people do freaks out and
IMF been telling about on backing out on what the decisions that they had made on making bitcoin as a legal tender but instead they had just done nothing or even we do say that silently accumulated
into those dip prices and now the recovery happens then its an another profit for them?

[_act_]

Currently only El Salvador is the country only one that has succeeded in adopting bitcoin as a whole in their country

El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender which is as a whole too but there are countries that are very friendly with bitcoin also, I just like the move Russia is recently taking in Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining aroption, likewise many other countries may follow this.

Russia to make bitcoin a currency

Although not a legal tender but all countries that are friendly with bitcoin all helps in its adoption, there are defferent ways in Bitcoin adoption, but all we be good.

although it continues to receive criticism from western countries and also the IMF

Because of this, I can call the organization international fiat fund as they are just fiat friendly. Before El Salvador made Bitcoin a legal tender, they were in serious dept, I do not know what IMF wants to bring out with there opinion. It is good to see longer and wider, El Salvador president see long and wider and know the right way to take, this is not because I am Bitcoin enthusiast but because if the price of bitcoin enter six digit, it will favour El Salvador.

Would bitcoin be six digit one day? Definitely.

[suzanne5223]

El Salvador needs to be applauded and applauded for his courage and belief in adopting Bitcoin as a currency.

I believe El Salvador understand the importance and potential of Bitcoin more than we think because they currently reject the IMF advice about dropping Bitcoin as legal tender.

I am not sure if your framing of the matter is correct suzanne5223.

Many of us know that there is some momentum that comes when any of us makes a decision and implements it.  Once a decision is made and then implemented (even if ONLY partially or "in progress"), at point, we are no longer starting from scratch in regards to just throwing out the whole thing.  So, if a third party (whether powerful or having some other things to offer - carrots and sticks), they have to get beyond the mere proposal that the law should be reversed when momentum has been created both through reaching the decision and various implementation steps that have already been taken.

For sure, it is not impossible for El Salvador to reverse itself, but surely seems to make more sense that some time would have to pass, and really with something like bitcoin, there are a variety of rippling effects costs/benefits that come from putting the system in place, and surely some of the benefits (and costs for that matter) come further down the road and may well not be so apparent until further passage of time.. including measuring matters along the way.. building and costs of maintenance and seeing whether benefits outweigh costs (surely too soon to measure with some of the tangible and intangible measuring matters).

I am not framing it but I am saying what I read in the news and some reputable Bitcoin investors on Twitter also confirmed it and what I don't understand is how sure is the El Salvador government in making this decision. What I ask myself is, did they have some backup plan due to the volatility etc of the Bitcoin market.

I believe El Salvador understand the importance and potential of Bitcoin more than we think because they currently reject the IMF advice about dropping Bitcoin as legal tender.

More than we think? Is El Salvador having prior investors in Bitcoin? Or do you think El Salvador has done great research related to Bitcoin future? Although El Salvador braves to invest in Bitcoin, I don't get a clue if they are experienced enough in Bitcoin investment. They reject IMF advice because IMF states something annoying for them. In this matter, rejecting IMF advice is a must, how can El Salvador cancles what they just decided.

They are standing their ground in towards the decisions that they had made and wouldnt tend to back out on what they have done.Into those times on which bitcoins price dipped on 34k then people do freaks out and
IMF been telling about on backing out on what the decisions that they had made on making bitcoin as a legal tender but instead they had just done nothing or even we do say that silently accumulated
into those dip prices and now the recovery happens then its an another profit for them?

@lalabotax Time will tell if they are prior investors of Bitcoin but they are the first country to sign Bitcoin as legal tender and I think they have done a lot of research before they choose to make the decision.
@Fatunad It another profit for them but we know the Bitcoin market is volatile and the market recovery now can't be used to justify the future market trend.

[lalabotax]

Into those times on which bitcoins price dipped on 34k then people do freaks out and IMF been telling about on backing out on what the decisions that they had made on making bitcoin as a legal tender but instead they had just done nothing -snip-

Of course, El Salvador didn't do anything because they know IMF only spread FUDs or wants to scare them. We must appreciate that they stand on their decision and didn't do panic selling or cancel the legal tender status. Seeing how brave El Salvador is, makes me think they have many experts hired by president Nayib to manage their Bitcoin investment.

@lalabotax Time will tell if they are prior investors of Bitcoin but they are the first country to sign Bitcoin as legal tender and I think they have done a lot of research before they choose to make the decision.

Yes, it is the fact that El Salvador is the bravest country to declare BTC as a legal tender. Sure, they must have big reasons before they decide it.

[suzanne5223]

@lalabotax Time will tell if they are prior investors of Bitcoin but they are the first country to sign Bitcoin as legal tender and I think they have done a lot of research before they choose to make the decision.

Yes, it is the fact that El Salvador is the bravest country to declare BTC as a legal tender. Sure, they must have big reasons before they decide it.

Yes, El Salvador was the first country to declared Bitcoin as legal tender but I don't think it worth calling them the bravest country. I believe the attribute you ought to use is the first country to take the risk of using Bitcoin as legal tender. Besides, El Salvador was able to easily sign Bitcoin as legal tender because it is a sovereign nation.

[Z-tight]

Besides, El Salvador was able to easily sign Bitcoin as legal tender because it is a sovereign nation.

El Savador did what they did because they wanted to and they had done their research about Bitcoin, and concluded that it has so much prospects for the future and also that they could benefit from it in the long run, and not because they are a sovereign nation, how many countries are still under colonial rule, none i would say, because that's what I consider to be the opposite of sovereignty, 99% of countries today are autonomous (sovereign), and they can take the decision El Savador took.

But they would not, not because they are not 'sovereign' but maybe because they do not like Bitcoin, and they do not want to associate with it because it's decentralized and offers financial 'sovereignty' to people who use it.

[suzanne5223]

Besides, El Salvador was able to easily sign Bitcoin as legal tender because it is a sovereign nation.

El Savador did what they did because they wanted to and they had done their research about Bitcoin, and concluded that it has so much prospects for the future and also that they could benefit from it in the long run, and not because they are a sovereign nation, how many countries are still under colonial rule, none i would say, because that's what I consider to be the opposite of sovereignty, 99% of countries today are autonomous (sovereign), and they can take the decision El Savador took.

But they would not, not because they are not 'sovereign' but maybe because they do not like Bitcoin, and they do not want to associate with it because it's decentralized and offers financial 'sovereignty' to people who use it.

You seem not to understand that some countries that claimed to operate in democracy way are actually ruled in the modern colonial way because people have inequality treat and thats the reason why some governments find it hard to support the decentralization of Bitcoin. However, if you read the El Salvador reply to the IMF statement will know that one of the reasons why they have the privilege to legalize Bitcoin despite their research about it is because they are a sovereign nation.

[DdmrDdmr]

Not surprisingly, there’s a Chivo wallet phishing attempt going on these days, whereby the Chivo users are being (falsely) offered a 50$ bonus for answering a survey related to Chivo. It seems to be pushed over the social networks as a means of propagation:

I managed to find what I figure is the site where one ends-up landing on (https[colon]//chivo2022prima[dot]com), and the information it recollects from the users is the following:

- Full Name
- Were you excited to use Chivo Wallet?
- What is your current balance in your Chivo Wallet? (less than 10$ .. more than 300$)
- What are the chances of you recommending Chivo Wallet to a friend?
- Do you approve the use of Bitcoin?
- Write your opinion and recommendations
- What is your Chivo Wallet phone number?
- Confirm the reception of the 50$ by using your pin (you’re expected to type your real pin here)
- Confirm the reception of the 50% with your ID (DUI)
- SMS Code (You are meant to type a SMS code that you may/or may not receive in under a minute – I bypassed by making two random attempts - the second attempt bypasses the screen).

The local government has had to make an official announcement to stress the fact that it’s a fake survey. TheWayBackMachine has archives dating from the 16/01/2022, so it’s been around at least for a month (the domain is slightly older).

See:
https://www-elsalvador-com.translate.goog/noticias/negocios/chivo-wallet-empresa/926973/2022/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=es&_x_tr_pto=wapp
https://whois.domaintools.com/chivo2022prima[dot]com
https://web.archive.org/web/20220116162852/https[colon]//chivo2022prima[dot]com/

[Artemis3]

This is so typical, phishers will never rest.

A "survey" that asks for your pin/password/credentials is no survey, just theft. Unfortunately not everyone is tech savvy enough to discern it.

But this is NOT Bitcoin's or El Salvador fault. In fact it has been ongoing non stop since the beginning.

[JayJuanGee]

This is so typical, phishers will never rest.

A "survey" that asks for your pin/password/credentials is no survey, just theft. Unfortunately not everyone is tech savvy enough to discern it.

But this is NOT Bitcoin's or El Salvador fault. In fact it has been ongoing non stop since the beginning.

I would imagine that the survey seems more legit if the pin/password/credentials are slipped in the middle... and as ways to "confirm" the information/receipt of funds etc etc....

Of course, there is a bit of a "honeypot" of potentially gullible people when something around half of the population has downloaded such a wallet and started to use it (at least once to get their initial $30 airdrop)...

It is sad.. but of course, people are going to fall for those kinds of gimmicks.. and there are likely people still getting used to the "internet," various aspects of the wallet, and hearing about the ability to get another $50 because they had already received $30 once, so why not $50 a second time?

[DdmrDdmr]

I took another look today, and it’s not just one site they’re using here for the phishing campaign, but rather four identical sites on different domains:

http[colon]//chivobono[dot]com (whois -> 12/02/2022)
https[colon]//www[dot]chivo2022prima[dot]com (whois -> 11/01/2022 + ssl)
http[colon]//www[dot]encuesta2022chivo[dot]com (whois -> 29/01/2022)
http[colon]//www[dot]chivo2022bono[dot]com (whois -> 08/02/2022)

Divide and conquer I figure, diversifying the scam with different domains lest one should be blocked. The WhoIs dates do denote that they are still going on about it, having two of those sites created essentially over the last week.

[tyz]

It did take a lot of courage to make this step, I bet. It takes even more courage to keep going even with outside criticism, and there has been quite a bit of it.
What I wonder the most, however, is which will be the next country to do so, and when. I cannot imagine that El Salvador will remain the only one.

I think the criticism from outside is the smallest problem. It's probably more foreign institutions that have no interest in the success of crypto, first and foremost the IMF, but also the US. I wouldn't be surprised if the U.S. imposes sanctions on the country sooner or later, should the introduction of Bitcoin become a success.

[_act_]

Besides, El Salvador was able to easily sign Bitcoin as legal tender because it is a sovereign nation.

El Salvador is a democratic nation having executive, 84-member legislative and judiciary system of government. But you know that what the executive and the legislative arms of government agreed upon is what citizens will follow. El Salvador do not have the local currency of their own, they are spending United States Dollar, this could be what triggered the use of Bitcoin also as a legal tender in El Salvador. More research would have been made about making Bitcoin a legal tender in the country and the arms of government know that Bitcoin will help the country but over long time.

You even know how the executive and legislative arm of government opinion can override central bank hatred for Bitcoin in any democratic country.

I think I read in the past that the president of El Salvador passed the bill to the legislative arm to make bitcoin a legal tender which they later also accepted. El Salvador is not a sovereign nation. One of the good reasons I read that time is that even 80% Salvadorians are not having bank account, that Bitcoin can be useful for those people.

I will like to know if the Chivo wallet can be used to send Bitcoin to other wallets like noncustododial wallets, but most likely this will be possible on Chivo wallet just like other custodial wallets. What I feared most about cryptocurrencies is phishing attack, the people's personal information collected can be used later against the people. It will be very bad if a Bitcoin user in El Salvador is attacked and the attackers telling him to send all his coins to their noncustododial wallet address. I have not heard this type of attack before but nothing is impossible and it can start from somewhere. This phishing attack can still later lead to a means the attackers will successfully steal Bitcoin from the people their personal information were collected.

I think the criticism from outside is the smallest problem. It's probably more foreign institutions that have no interest in the success of crypto, first and foremost the IMF, but also the US. I wouldn't be surprised if the U.S. imposes sanctions on the country sooner or later, should the introduction of Bitcoin become a success.

About US, sanction for what? Is El Salvador building a nuclear weapon or doing what could cause damage to other countries, or is El Salvador like Afghanistan that is against human rights for women? I do not see any reason why US should sanction El Salvador when also US is supporting Bitcoin.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> I will like to know if the Chivo wallet can be used to send Bitcoin to other wallets like noncustododial wallets <…>

Sure it can, but unlike Chivo to Chivo TXs which are free, Sending a TX to a wallet outside the Chivo Sytems will logically incur in network fees (not Chivo fees).

Actually, related to this, one of the most interesting stats I would like to see (which I probably won’t) is that of the number of TXs over time from Chivo to Chivo (there are some old early day ones available, but that’s it), and the number of TX from Chivo to third party wallets and vice-versa. Surely, the former is going to be behind the vast majority of the TXs, but the latter would give interesting insights.