El Salvador’s historic adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender was beset by teething problems, as an angry protest by mistrustful citizens, technological glitches, and a dip in the cryptocurrency clouded the rollout.
El Salvador’s historic adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender on Tuesday was beset by teething problems, as an angry protest by mistrustful citizens, technological glitches, and a dip in the cryptocurrency clouded the rollout. The bold experiment got off to a bumpy start when shortly after midnight, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele complained the government-backed Bitcoin app was not available on various Internet platforms including Apple and Huawei. Bitcoin price in India stood at Rs.37.4 lakhs as of 10am IST on September 8. Bukele used his Twitter account to press online stores to stock the app, or digital wallet, known as Chivo, and Huawei later began making it available. But when the app proved unable to cope with user registrations, the government unplugged it in order to connect to more servers and increase capacity. Still, as the app began appearing on more platforms, Bukele was by afternoon retweeting videos posted on social media with people making payments using Bitcoin at retailers in El Salvador including McDonald’s and Starbucks. “El Salvador is taking a great step forward today,” said Carlos Garcia, who went to a booth at a San Salvador shopping mall giving out advice on how the new currency would work. Starbucks’ El Salvador unit said it was accepting Bitcoin for purchases at its restaurants, drive-through facilities or to go. Promising $30 (roughly Rs.2,200) of Bitcoin for each user, Bukele has pushed for its adoption, saying it will help Salvadorans save $400 million (roughly Rs.2,940 crores) a year on commissions for remittances, while giving access to financial services to people with no bank account. “We must break the paradigms of the past,” Bukele tweeted.
