Topic: El Salvador rolls out 200 Bitcoin ATMs in a bid to speed-up nationwide adoption (Read 819 times)

Of all the countries to make the move adopting Bitcoin, El Salvador makes among the most sense, as they had already been reliant on the U.S. dollar as their currency for a while. I guess it makes more sense to base your economy on a stable currency rather than have an embarrassing one like Argentina or Zimbabwe.

I hope it works out for them, of course. I don't understand how the transactions are "commission-free", and its success will be a matter of catching the country up in financial literacy (avoiding scams).

Actually people have developed a feeling of protesting against everything which they feel is not right for them which is good thing but without understanding the importance or usage of the bills just blindly picking up anti bitcoin boards and protesting against them is not going to work as government is not going to reverse the bills(made for their benefits).They were completely dominated by the USD and then everything was fine inspite of inflation and outside government hindering their economy but now when bitcoin which brings them freedom is with them they are ignoring it.Same as you said like cars and train protest by people were totally useless as are they not using any of them until they are associated with any tribal caste ? Is the world moving around on two wheeler only? No.So when time will pass they will get to know it's importance and will adopt to it and till the time fiat has not been banned and those who fear btc can use fiat and make their condition worsen in future.

Like the people sending money to the country were using Western Union previously and they were charging too much like $5 for $50 of fund transfer which is too much compared to bitcoin fees also which they consider is too much and now if the country is providing you opportunities you tend to oppose them.



If not now they will soon realise that bitcoin is their currency not USD and will not fear it but will accept it as half million users are already sign up on Chivo wallet as announced so it's good to see this happening.

LOL.. that is the point. I know countries where computers were banned in the 90s, because the government thought that it will result in joblessness. And I do share your concern about speculation. But is it possible for Bitcoin to drop by 80% from the current levels? Prices are getting stabilized after a sharp correction and now everyone is waiting for the next bull run. Even if a correction occurs, I don't expect it to be as bad as it was in 2014/15 and 2018/19. Everyone will be happy when the prices are going up. But Bukele will be in trouble when the prices go down (even by 20% or 30%).

They will have a huge problems with smaller companies adopting BTC as a official payment. Crytpo education there is still pretty low and government will have spend quite a lot of money to educate their people.
But you are right, if BTC really starts being mass adopted around the world, then Salvador will get pretty rich

I'm not sure what's scarier: a government-owned wallet, or an entire country that relies on a single custodial wallet. I'm totally fine using custodial LN wallets for small amounts, and I realize my (small) funds are in someone else's hands. If that happens to an entire country, it might need regulation similar to banks, because an exit scam would end in a bail out and I don't think regulators will allow that risk.

Well that's a good idea to spread bitcoin within the country, indeed el Salvador already saved bitcoin as a legal tender wherein all they need to do is to keep spreading bitcoin by making machines and etc so that enthusiast can avail such features as well. Its not bad actually wherein it's normal that we see some negative feedback because of some people who have negative comments of crypo..  I mean just be thankful that we are not out of knowledge because up to now we still able to make good return from it despite of some negative feedbacks about crypto currency..

Most probably the government was urging to use that wallet to giveaway $30 in bitcoin but they are free to use any wallet and like most common is Strike among El Salvador for lightning network payment as you might have seen in some stores and videos.But launch of more than 200 bitcoin and other in past El Salvador is ready to adapt to the future inspite os some protest among people to legalize it but when they will use it they will automatically comes to know dollar domination could be feed by using btc and protest would turn out in support.

This country allows legal Bitcoin bidding, so they don't need to set up Bitcoin ATMs but force people to accept Bitcoin for payment.
I can't see a bigger benefit than the ATM's Bitcoin advertising. It may be a waste of money in the short term, but it has long-term effects on El Salvador's Bitcoin payment policy.

This action shows how much El Salvador cares about Bitcoin adoption to reach really high levels. After making Bitcoin legal tender, they are trying every way they can to convince their people to start using Bitcoin as their main currency. And this is a clever way of doing it. If they place these Bitcoin ATMs to the right places like gas stations etc., they can benefit from it a lot.

This is undoubtedly one of the smartest move I've seen made by a democratic Republic state. This won't only make it a lot easier for the citizens in transacting but also help boost their economy growth.

If Bitcoin becomes legal tender, there is no need to install Bitcoin ATMs because people already use Bitcoin in their day-to-day transactions instead of cash. The installation of Bitcoin ATMs is only to decorate and advertise the policy of the founder of the Bitcoin movement in this country, the president.

Maybe it's normal for humans to oppose anything that is new at beginning, and yet again it doesn't mean that everything that is new is always better than old.
Bitcoin is much better than any fiat currency system for sure, and I think that president said that Bitcoin in El Salavdor will be optional not mandatory, so this means  that only smart people will use it.
Latest research is showing that 70% of people in El Salvador are against new Bitcoin bill, meanwhile protests are not allowed and people are getting arrested for doing that.
History showed us many times that majority herd is usually never right

As we are talking about Bitcoin ATMs one interesting news is that Lamassu released code for their machines as Open Source!
https://github.com/lamassu

Didn't people protest against trains and cars in the past? Or more recently against cell phone towers? It's normal

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I wonder what happens to Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador when Bitcoin rises 800%. I expect (poor) people to start speculating with the little money they have, and some will lose a lot when Bitcoin drops 80% again. People who were no where near rich enough to speculate on Bitcoin will suddenly have an easy opportunity to do so.

A couple of days ago, I saw an article on a survey performed by the Central American University (UCA), whereby over two thirds of the population of El Salvador are opposed to bitcoin being a currency there. 1.281 people took part in the survey, and the technical details on how the survey population was drafted seemed ok (you need to look at the survey itself to see this information).
 
Part of the conclusions state that 90% of the people there do not really understand bitcoin/Bitcoin, and 80% did not place much trust in it, or none at all. 70% believe that their legal system (Asamblea Legislativa) should revoke the Bitcoin Law. 95,9% believe bitcoin should, in any case, be voluntary in accepting payments, not mandatory.

The survey (see pdf below in Spanish) goes on to depict other socio-economic factors, as well as more bitcoin related matters.


The numbers do not match those seem on protests in El Salvador, but I’m pretty sure that, for the most, the population is still in the blue with regards to bitcoin.


See:
https://uca.edu.sv/iudop/wp-content/uploads/Boletin-BTC-Coyuntura-2021-2.pdf
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/majority-of-salvadorans-do-not-want-bitcoin-poll-shows-2021-09-02

I guess the biggest task is trying to educate the masses on what bitcoin is, security and how to avoid scams and also some ideas about the bitcoin market and economics. This is possible if a lot of funds are injected into education and different types of adverts on media.

I have seen very local populations in remote areas get attached to and even believe in scam Ponzi schemes like Onecoin because of their aggressive advertising techniques and massive conferences 

I know bitcoin does not need to be advertised or marketed but for the sake of keeping a majority of the population well-informed, I think it's a necessary evil.

Similar to this Japan made a move years back. Japan supported the shops and suggested to implement bitcoin acceptance. That made a big change in the over-all market through the massive adoption. What we see with El Salvador with the addition of more bitcoin ATMs is a way to speedup the adoption around the country.

Few posts mentioned about certain group of people against the usage of bitcoin. However these group of people will change their minds gradually. Because, people who took an opposite stand against crypto has now begun to invest good on cryptocurrency.

I just read from the news that majority of El Salvador people are not in favor of the new Bitcoin. Some of them has no idea at all and others has a doubt of having problems from getting loss in the trade.

I think the president must conduct public seminar about Bitcoin and how it can help their lives.

Woohaa!!! That's a nice market candle boost.

Really good to see El Salvador pushing though with their statement in being the first country to democratise/legalise digital currency and embrace BTC.
The fact that they're really going for it with ATMS should hopefully lead other countries to think harder about why they shouldn't jump in, and if that happens a new crypto wave will take place - let's hope for the best.

They will always find someone contradicting their move. But once people start learning how to utilize crypto and experience the benefits of it, more than likely, they will change their stance. Some are against without basis. Maybe, they need to educate also their citizens, it may help them in further understanding the nature of crypto. All the information can be found via internet but getting it from actual talks or seminars would be helpful to some as they can directly ask questions to their authorities.

I am more and more amazed by the president of El Salvador, he is a wise head of state
El Salvador is like challenging the world and betting on the world that Bitcoin can improve the economy of their small country

nothing can stop bitcoin adoption in El Salvador although in some tweets I see some El Salvadorans objecting to bitcoin regulation in their country

That is without a doubt one of the reasons but at the same time there is no doubt that they are looking at the long term and they are thinking that it would be fantastic for them if people that are big on cryptocurrencies and businesses decided that they want to establish themselves at El Salvador and bring a huge deal of foreign investment to the country.

This is not a bad strategy at all and if they can endure the pressure of the international community and keep going forward with this then El Salvador could become a destination for many people that have adopted cryptocurrencies and bring great prosperity to the country.

Also I read about the protests not on mainstream media and this is what a few people were talking about before the press came out and condemned them for being anti Bitcoin!

You cannot just open Bitcoin business,,, and tell everyone they can use it when not even everyone has heard about it. 4 out of 5 is 80% of citizens and this is a lot of people to teach first before putting out ATMs and asking business to accept.

I really love that president but I have a concern with regards with Bitcoin adaption. The country must know when NOT to hodl Bitcoin. They need to teach people when to sell and when to hedge their profit in their fiat.

El Salvador is a lucky country. We did many discussion about bitcoin advantages and benefits for people now El Salvador is one of countries that realize that bitcoin is not a bad thing. It's created to improve people life. This move is good and enough for bitcoin adoption but if they want to move faster I suggest them to work together with retail industry. Those legal company is enough to help people adopt bitcoin as medium of exchange. Maybe restaurant can help them too. In my country I can top up virtual money to buy game item via minimarket and other retailer. Maybe it will work for them too.

One way to get some closer local information on El Salvador is through some of their local press. I’ve been browsing one of such local media, which lacking and English version, can be browsed through Google translate rather decently (for those not fluent in Spanish):

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=https://www.elsalvador.com/

Reading though a couple of articles there, it seems to have a fair share un the population that is still in the dark on how to manage bitcoin in their business and day to day. The Industrial Association is having a rough time getting to accept bitcoin, since a significant part of this industry deals in international trades, where bitcoins are currently not employed on the other end.

Not an easy process of adaption …

Think about it for a second. You're a citizen and a shopkeeper in El Salvador, not familiar with technology, let alone with cryptocurrencies, and the president you've voted forces you to accept a currency you're completely unaware of and observe its fluctuating nature. What these folks do is a justifiably negative interaction; mainly due to technophobia.

I don't see any young person, they're all old objectively.

There is one local company started to make their own Bitcoin ATMs made in El Salvador but there are still strong forces that are against using Bitcoin in their country.
Here is one interesting photo from scared and fully masked people from El Salvador protesting against Bitcoin and president Bukele.
This really sad image is showing that everyone is not happy with new Bitcoin bill and I suspect that we would have similar protests worldwide if BTC would be global legal tender.


https://twitter.com/Sara05056407/status/1432044595710513160

One more local news article from August 26 explaining why many people are against Bitcoin, and four out of five people interviewed said they don't want to accept Bitcoin for growing their business:
https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/negocios/bitcoin-turismo-de-negocios/872846/2021/

You forget about volatility, which is especially pronounced when it comes to people who receive a salary in BTC - and I saw from the example of the Bitcoin Beach project the personal testimonies of people to whom this is exactly what happened. In such a poor country, few can afford to gamble with the little money they have - because if your 0.001 BTC is worth $50 today and only $40 tomorrow, then you're in trouble.

As far as I understood this whole story about El Salvador - Bitcoin, the goal was to save on the fees paid by their emigrants when they send money home, and according to some estimates, it is as much as $6 billion a year. As I see it, the government wants to allow these transactions in BTC, but at the same time allow easy conversion in $ to anyone who wants to.

Also, you don't necessarily need an ATM to covert your fiat to cryptocurrency (or vice versa). There are dozens of centralized exchanges available in El Salvador, on top of the DEX sites and P2P platforms. The banks can't ban cryptocurrency users, since now Bitcoin is the legal tender. BTW, all the shops and utilities are supposed to accept Bitcoin and therefore this issue of fiat to crypto conversion should not arise in the first place. And the first priority for Bitcoiners should be to educate ordinary Salvadorians on how to use Bitcoin, rather than setting up ATMs and kiosks.

Only the US and Canada have more Bitcoin ATMs per 100`000, and not all of them are two-way. El Salvador is a poor country where in 2017 only 34% of the population used Internet, despite their low average age. If the ATMs turn out to be popular they can always order more.

Okay! This is unbelievable. El Salvador now sounds like pure heaven. This act done by the president of El Salvador is a big thing and has a huge impact in cryptocurrency adoption. Actions like this can even make citizens who never knew about Bitcoin get a proper sense on what it can do. Well done! President Nayib Bukele.

Congratulations Salvador because he has played the most important role with Bitcoin at the present time. In addition to giving Bitcoin acceptance, Bitcoin is going to set up ATMs. All over the country from next September Bitcoin is going to be used simultaneously.

This is one of the right ways to help Bitcoin adoption spread more. As long as more people see these ATMs and get curious about them, we will have brand new investors in the cryptocurrency market. This will help the demand increase. And it will result in more countries to start being interested in Bitcoin and making it legal tender. It is like a cycle I mean.

The thing is that Masses will in most case believe what Government says to them, and this can be good for mass adoption, but it comes at a price. Privacy when using crypto is now becoming thinner and thinner with so many exchanges enforcing KYC. Those that don't require KYC like Bisq don't have the liquidity and are not user-friendly for beginners.

If you want to enjoy privacy or anonymity, you have to avoid using exchanges, which is close to impossible. At one point you may want to exchange your crypto for fiat or vice versa.

President Bukele's determination is admirable. Some critics of his government refer to him as an autocratic leader. There are opposition groups in El Salvador, as there are in all countries, which is why we see that Bukele speaks to both supporters and opponents of the Bitcoin law.

Absolutely great news from South America. While China decides to get rid of bitcoin, other countries have joined the cryptocurrency world and harvest any opportunity they can find. However, I believe that bitcoin fees are still quite high, how can the people afford to make such transaction in daily life ?

Each ATM have camera and this has been installed by the company for protection of their clients so expect that they will also put that on bitcoin ATM machine for the same reason and we should not get afraid of it as bitcoin is already a legal tender in their country so for sure any transaction related to bitcoin is protected by their local law. You only get worried about those things if you do money laundering since for sure you will be seen and sued by the government or any legal authorities if you used this machines to withdraw your btc came from illegal matters.

Pretty sure that they will put on in there, I mean it's not like they can't do it and people will but I am pretty that if it's the government, they will most likely add those like a traditional ATM.

I think that's quite enough to start with, especially since not all 6.5 million residents will use Bitcoin right away, some because they are minors, others because they don't have the knowledge and skills, and others because they believe more in the US dollar. In addition, if ATMs are strategically well deployed, then they will cover large urban areas to begin with, and it will later be possible to assess where their numbers need to be increased. It is a fascinating fact that El Salvador will be the third country in the world in terms of crypto ATM, right behind the US and Canada.


Infrastructure has been under construction for some time, and as far as I know the government is working with various foreign companies to help with the work - and CEO of Strike Jack Mallers actually started the whole thing a year ago with the Bitcoin Beach project. When you mention Justin Sun, you are wrong when you claim that he did not give his support, almost 3 months ago - https://twitter.com/justinsuntron/status/1401459710486671360

This is indeed a delightful piece of good news. Hopefully, there are no cameras on these Bitcoin ATMs. This can well protect everyone's privacy.
El Salvador has played a good lead. It is believed that many countries will follow the example of El Salvador and launch Bitcoin ATMs one after another.

El Salvador is really doing their best to speed up the adoption process in their country. Even I was quite surprised by the steps taken by El Salvador
to provide 200 Bitcoin ATMs, not only requiring a large fee. However, El Salvador also looks very ambitious with all the plans that are made to make
Bitcoin can be used optimally by its residents. I believe in a very short time the entire population of El Salvador will soon adopt Bitcoin, this is why
important the government supports Bitcoin. So the adoption process can run faster, the problem is that there are still many countries in the world
that do not support Bitcoin. Hopefully what El Salvador has done can be followed by other countries, and will also help push the Bitcoin price up.

El Salvador is a country of 6.5 million people (with a few millions more living as expats in countries such as the United States). 200 ATMs mean one machine for every 32,500 people. Do you think that this is enough? I am supportive of Bukele's move that made Bitcoin as the legal tender in El Salvador. But the infrastructure is not there currently, and that may leave people frustrated. And I am surprised at the lack of support El Salvador has so far received from the cryptocurrency sector. None of the big names have made any announcement to support them. Justin Sun once spent $4.5 million to get a dinner date with Warren Buffet. If a fraction of that amount is spent, then we can install thousands of ATMs in El Salvador.

I don’t think this is a seemingly beautiful thing. There is politics in it, so I’m not interested. First of all, let’s understand that El Saldova, a poor country in Central America, has an unimaginably bad financial environment and financial facilities, and Black gold politics also exists. Out of 10 people in this country, 3 have a gang background. All these policy inducements to please the people have several purposes:
1. Stabilize people's emotions
2. Stabilize the country's financial order, and then attract foreign investment
3. Using Bitcoin as a legal currency became the first place to stand on top of the world, and it seemed to instantly establish the impression of a modern power.
4. High debts and a collapsed economy are also ways for the country and the government to save themselves.
Faced with a chaotic and disorderly national environment, if I were the president of the country, I would find a big country as a backer, or I had no way, I don’t know whether the problem can be solved, and I have a fluke mentality, What if it succeeds?

Compromise on privacy for mass adoption it not exactly what we really want. But that is the state of the situation here as some are celebrating these sort of adoption but i want everyone to enjoy the privacy  Bitcoin offers and i doubt El Salvador is running a master program along with other countries to learn how to control people in this market .

El Salvador is the only state who's brave enough to accept bitcoin as a legal tender and i think it will give credits to the President. With all the changes that is taking place, i think these things are all expected to speed up the adoption of bitcoin. And once El Salvador will come up successful with this crypto adoption, not just small countries nearby or even the big progressive countries will also be influenced with this.

I must admit that this news is definitely a break out. It's a nerve wrecking decision of the government that is totally different what others have seen it. With this, bitcoin will create a big impact to the economy of the state and  hopefully things will come out according to the plan.

with the state of El Salvador which will make 200 bitcoin ATMs for adoption nationally.with this we really hope more for the long-term increase in bitcoin, and can again increase the popularity of bitcoin at the highest peak of investment, because at this time what is being done by the country of El Salvador is one of the most appropriate steps in the process of national adoption of bitcoin in the country

This is great seeing a country taking bitcoin so seriously but let along adopting it as their national currency.  Their president is going to go down in history as a pioneer and one who's trying to do good by it's citizens.  I am also a bit unsure about this "state backed wallet" but at least this all is a good start in my humble opinion.

For the El Salvador people and Bitcoin adoption, it is very good news. El Salvador started a Bitcoin revolution and they are doing everything they can to help it become succesful. First, they distributed Bitcoin for all of their people and now this. It is very important to place these Bitcoin ATMs in the strategic places like gas stations etc.. This will definitely help more people start being interested in Bitcoin.

I can only say that with each new move taken by the El Salvador government this whole story is getting more and more serious. Even though it is done there in a third-world country that most people do not even know how to find on the map, it is incredible that one such country has managed to achieve so much in a very short time when it comes to adopting cryptocurrencies.

It just shows how much politics in other countries of the world is slowing down the process of crypto adaptation, especially now that everyone is seriously working on their digital currencies (CBDC). The best thing though is that every resident of El Salvador has a completely free choice to use the currency he wants and that no one is forcing anyone to do anything.

Great news! El Salvador has been making its efforts to get its people accustomed to using Bitcoin. The government first wanted to distribute BTC worth $30 to every citizen. After that, we see that it is putting 200 Bitcoin ATMs to affect people about starting to use Bitcoin. These are vital moves for a nation to make Bitcoin usage spread widely. I started believing more that El Salvador will have really good results after these moves.

The reason El Salvador adopted it is to lower remittance fees.  The system of banks and 3rd party overseerers resulted in large fees most weren't able to afford, and if they did, they lost a huge chunk of their money. These ATM is great step to support bitcoin.

This is actually a fantastic news. El Salvador is really taking the big leap here with those ATMS and I don't think it is going to stop. The fact that it's a country near America means that there's a high chance that it will have a domino effect on the nearby countries, especially if found out how useful cryptocurrencies is in a countries growing economy. Maybe El Salvador will be one of the key in countries accepting Bitcoin all over the world.

This is just the beginning because the moment they announce what they gonna do to the entire world, I know they will take it to another level. This is the best time to implement such kind of innovation where the entire world is not sure about it. I think if bitcoins will finally be recognized as one of the payment systems in the entire world, El Salvador is one of the countries that will get huge benefits from it.

Most of us claiming that they are not surprised by this news. Thing is we should be surprised because there are many nations with numerous investors of crypto band who are wishing that when their nation will start developing crypto infra like this. In India, back in 2017-18 one bold man tried to install the Bitcoin ATM in a city center mall. Right after 24 hours it was ceased by the IRS officials as illegal financial booth and all the excitement in India was scrapped out.

..and here we go El Salvador, country with no fear, started installing their first 200 crypto based ATM's. I think I would applaud them because at least they have started somewhere and are in the full fledge adoption of the same.

Ask the peeps who wish to have such ATM's nearby, they tell how surprised are they with this news. 

That's alright for me, a little identification in some certain number is acceptable, long as there's no camera behind those ATMs like a regular ATM, what I'm mad about is the 10% fee, that's definitely too high and it's going to be bad for them because no one's going to use them if they allow a P2P there, to me that number is pretty offensive, you don't see that percentage on a normal ATM right?

Damn. Whether or not this experiment does wonders, we're yet to find out, but it's still very interesting news. Also interesting they went for a new wallet, suppose there's a lot to be made with landing contracts for developing govt solutions;)

Next up to find out is what the KYC limits will be, if a significant minority of El Salvadorans are, supposedly, unbanked/undocumented.

Does it say who the machine manufacturer is? Suppose it doesn't matter if the backend is all the same.

That means Chivo wallet is a central wallet where there is no need for fees to make transactions between users (offchain). Regarding the free $30 offer, this applies only to chivo users. Of course this method will be more effective to lead people to use an official government-approved wallet (although I think there is an "asset control" motive).

There is no doubt, Elsavador will be the next country with the most bitcoin circulation in the world.

That's right, Corporate that invest billions of dollars in bitcoin are good but one day they will surely take profits and sell them, But what Elsalvador did was legalize Bitcoin as a means of payment and give free $30 to its residents. Of course this will increase Bitcoin users and Bitcoin will continue to grow well.
Maybe in the future there will be many new Elsavador-based projects.

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The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, said:
*

In this case I still don't understand how they will do the transaction without transaction fee.

* https://forbescentroamerica.com/2021/08/25/bukele-acusa-a-oposicion-de-meter-miedo-con-el-bitcoin/

A state-backed crypto wallet is certainly undesirable but without any policy that compels Salvadoran people to only use such wallet, I guess it is not that bad at all. Regardless, here's a state who is pushing forward something which is indeed for the welfare of its people. Bitcoin is no government-issued currency. Neither is it under the control of any of its agencies and branches. Despite all of this, however, the government is still making sure its people could make use of all its features.

I could say this is a victory of El Salvador and its people!

the more bitcoin adoption and spread throughout the country, the fluctuations will be more stable, but I think bitcoin will still fluctuate, we can see the volatility of gold which is recognized by the whole world. but if later bitcoin can be used as a means of payment maybe it will be a different story

If neighboring countries will see positive impact on their economy, they may follow the path of El Salvador.
If the crypto services are readily available, some people will try out of curiosity.
And when they found out about its advantages, then, they may turn to crypto user and endorse it to their family, colleagues and friends.
People are hesitant to try new technology especially if they have no knowledge about it.
But if it is already in front of them, this may encourage them to try and see what's in store for them.

Exactly. This might be the first state to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender so whatever the result on it will create an impact to its neighboring countries. But i think the citizens are optimistic about it and once it works, hopefully other countries will follow the same path too. Leaders i think should always be responsible in leading his countrymen into adopting a new innovation that will create a big change in their lives.

However, since not all people are supporting this bitcoin adoption, because others might stick to its traditional system, so President Bukele has to cater to these different groups. But since bitcoin adoption could change the flow of country's economy, then it should be given more emphasis than using fiat which only causes high inflation and no transparency at all.

Brilliant move by El Salvador.
Some citizens were likely already using Bitcoin for remittances. This is a way to track and tax them.
This builds out the infrastructure to make KYC commonplace so DeFi does not have a chance to take hold.
Phasing out the hyperinflating national currency in place of deflationary Bitcoin dramatically improves the strength of their economy and may encourage job migration, such as developers to their country. Citizens will reward the president politically, once they realize the benefits.
El Salvador's economy will gain as first worlders will still pour in money to drive up the price of Bitcoin, but will lose out on the infrastructure/jobs that crypto provides, because of their authoritarian governments.

I admire the determination of President Bukele. Some people opposed to his government classify him as an autocratic leader.
In the nation of El Salvador, as in all countries, there are opposition groups, which is why we notice that Bukele speaks to both groups, those who support the Bitcoin law and those who do not.
I am looking forward to September 7th and to see how Salvadorans embrace bitcoin. My eyes are fixed to see how the Chivo wallet works for Salvadorans.
As they become successful with bitcoin, more nations will follow in their footsteps.

Bitcoin will never be stable and its price will always fluctuate. El salvador looks serious about getting more bitcoin users in his country through the launch of ATMs, although the current numbers don't seem to be enough on a National scale but I believe it's still in its early stage. Large-scale adoption may have an impact on price stability due to its use as both a currency and a means of payment, but so far bitcoin has been heavily traded rather than used as a means of payment. This is the reason why prices are difficult to stabilize even though adoption has increased.

All those Bitcoin ATM machines are using athenabitcoin.com backends for interacting with banks and with cryptocurrency system, but interesting thing is they are using centralized exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, and Chivo wallet is custodial with kyc verification.
CipherTrace and Elliptic are all included in Chivo Wallet Architecture and Athena bitcoin ATM's are operating powered by centralized AWS Amazon Web Services so don't expect decentralization if their server goes down.
Good thing for customers is that there will be no commission fees on transactions, but then I wonder how will all those companies get paid...

There is one interesting graph I found researching this topic:


https://twitter.com/eltapudosv/status/1429870227899174912

The only thing that's bothering me from this positive news, is the fact that Salvadorans will be limited to "50 bank branches" only! It would've made sense if we were just talking about the BTMs, but since banks are involved as well, then there's no reason to limit it to a certain amount of branches ^{[either you accept it completely or not]}.

You have a point, but none of them would be able to get the "free $30 in BTCitcoin" unless they'd use the Chivo app for at least one time ^{[there has to be an ulterior motive behind the creation of that app]}.

It's happening, the virus is spreading. El Salvador country is a role model in terms of Bitcoin, I believe neighboring countries or other parts of the world will start also to roll more Bitcoin ATMs.
This is one of the many ways to spread about Bitcoin, more ways to get Bitcoin will help Bitcoin grow, more users.

200 Bitcoin ATMs quite a lot, I think this isn't distributed yet and fully functional because when I checked the Coinatmradar, the country of El Salvador only has 4 Bitcoin ATMs.

It has a great impact on Bitcoin and the price, it's also has a benefit to the government of El Salvador, instead of banning crypto, prohibited exchange, and mining industry why not allowing people and encourage them to use crypto.  This state is a good example among other countries, we hope that every one will follow their steps.

For some reason, I wonder how they will implement tax, I guess not all will be illegible to pay tax for those who used non-custodial wallets, maybe on the custodial wallet which is can be regulated by them.

El Salvador is really showing up on how dedicated they are towards bitcoin adoption and 200 Bitcoin ATMS deployment is such really a good act because this would really spread up the awareness even more on the entire country and also not all would really be having the same impressions on what El Salvador had done because not all countries and its government would really be having that optimism towards crypto specially Bitcoin.

We have seen lots of scenarios on where several countries does have different takings or reactions towards its existence and that is why global adoption is really just remaining as a dream but somehow
its really good to look at that there are still whom do really consider the opposite.

Hope that it would happen also into my countryland.

Well, perhaps other countries were looking at bitcoin now and they studying how to adopt this. It is good if all countries do the same with El Salvador, they are open-minded towards cryptocurrency, that is how good to become a leadership and perhaps the president of that country knows much better about crypto. With that number of ATM machines, it will really great to rapidly spread the mass adoption of bitcoin and will surely everyone will purchase and hold it as they know that storing a value is much better than using it as a mode of payment. It is really indeed a good step by them, we should be thankful to the president of El Salvador.

If you will be a resident in El Salvador, then you will experience living your dreams as El Salvador is a place for crypto enthusiasts. I think it all matters with the leadership of the head of a country which brings all the difference into its people's lives. And bitcoin adoption will make El Salvador a progressive place to live in.

For me, this news is definitely the biggest achievement for bitcoin as it has reached its ultimate goal to be used as a good currency and has become a mainstream nowadays. Although this changes will set to take place place by Sept.7 but the preparation is definitely very impressive. And its expected by the way once digitalization will be adopted.

The good news is that bitcoin is being heavily promoted by El Salvador's government to its citizens. But all the rest is indifferent. I think many people here live in countries where there isn't any incentive or legal statement from the government about bitcoin and they are still able to deal with the crypto currency in the same way it's being promoted in El Salvador right now.

I think ATMs aren't needed since everyone has access to a smartphone and internet connection which fully replaces those machines' function (which are actually overcame nowadays already). Traditional banks accepting bitcoin is also indifferent, because we are stepping towards a new banking system that has already became a reality for many: crypto banks and crypto apps that fully replaces traditional banks' functions.

Governmental bitcoin marketing campaigns should be more oriented to the autonomy of the individuals when using the digital currency instead of promoting the dependence on ATMs and banking agencies.
Anyway their work isn't totally bad, because the propaganda still makes it worth. At least it looks like...

If the wallet is open source then it should not be a problem, now if it is close source then this is more problematic but it is understandable that they are doing this in this way and it does not worry me at all, after all I think El Salvador is choosing the minimum negative intervention possible that they can and this is a good thing.

Also I am really impressed by what is happening there, not only El Salvador is letting you use bitcoin as any other currency they are actually supporting the adoption by this move, I do not think that I am exaggerating but a great deal of the fate of bitcoin will be decided there, if other countries see that bitcoin is being used and saves people money and it is good for their economy especially in the difficult times we are going through then that could be what is needed to see other countries pulling off the same move.

Any bitcoin er/supporter/user/miner/geek/buyer/seller has a dream to make this a reality, and I'm jealous to all people of El Salvador to make this dream into reality by their government. Whether it will be a problem for personal identity for some which bitcoiner are used to as it's designed for anonymous (pseudonymous actually) transaction, but that doesn't matter to me at all if this happen here in my place.

In recent days, he was seen with a comment on Twitter:

Who is this boomer?
^{Source: https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1428802786054004748}

This is not just about bitcoin  of who wants to set up a bitcoin structure, personal or business project, where it is already complex, in fact there are several companies that are in charge of that business of only the ATms.

This leader has to deal with one of the countries with a high index of social and economic problems, with a serious internal political situation and some will say it is obvious he is the "president" of El Salvador but there the point, it is not only A bet on bitcoin is a bet where if it fails it will not matter what economic and social indices I leave in positive or negative after ceasing to be president, it is the hope of a change, not only on El Salvador but of the entire community of bitcoin in the world.

I think the stage is set, so  it is not possible not to get excited, so as  someone a few posts back showed himself with a image from Pascua island, I are a bit more modern and it reminded me of the scene from "I Robot" but not white robots, orange.


<sup>Source: https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1430115230978355234/photo/1

RT:@nayibbukele
Source: https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1430115230978355234</sup>

Let's go!

I think someone must have said "...my president also approved 2000 ATMs" oh, no,oh, no, no,no,no, i'm daydreaming.

It is certainly a very curious experiment, but it could just as easily be some grand and possibly misguided attempt by a politician to gain votes. Instead of the government taking direct control of the remittances system and effectively pushing the cost down (which makes their supposed saving an illusion), they have decided to uproot a large part of the economy. If they really did want to be pioneers in the cryptocurrency space then it would have made sense to see beyond Bitcoin and look at building their own blockchain based currency which could give them increased control for the benefit of their system. Bitcoin became a speculative asset a while ago and this could actually hurt the average citizen later down the line.

I think that something like this is necessary as a small pilot project and offers other countries the same alternative instead of watching the national currency hyperinflate. The variant to fully adopt Bitcoin will become more popular thats certain IMO

Nayib obviously must have certain ulterior motives behind these moves, but I honestly don't mind since these decisions are actually helping BTC and cryptocurrencies on the whole in various ways(Increasing adoption rates etc).

Haters might dismiss these developments by stating that these are simply small countries adopting crypto, but drops of water basically form an ocean.

I feel at the start when i heard about them making bitcoin  a legal trend i didn't except much other than a few shops accepting it,  but it seems that the president is actually doing some hard work to make it a part of the country's culture, and i feel like with the possibility to chose between fiat bitcoin and their own crypto makes it even better, besides installing these ATMs will make it even more accessible.

I am not surprised by the news because I think it is mandatory if they have adopted bitcoin as a legal currency then steps to accelerate its adoption can be considered as soon as possible and one of them is the spread of bitcoin ATM in various regions. A thing that will have a positive impact on bitcoin which mean there will be a lot of increase in its demand. If there are only 200 ATM to be installed in various regions then I think that's still quite a bit, but it may be true as DdmrDdmr said that this is the first step for accelerated adoption.

Frankly speaking, this is such kind of news where we should feel excited about. We always wanted to see granular level adoption of bitcoin. Didn't we?

I mean, it's much much better than a corporate investing billions of dollars in bitcoin. It is much much better for bitcoin to be circulated within a proper economy through masses instead of sitting idle in corporate coffers. Possibly El-Salvador will be written in history for their contribution towards the digital currency adoption.

I’m slightly confused. Not long ago, Athena claimed to be working towards installing 1.500 bitcoin ATMs in El Salvador (see https://www.reuters.com/technology/athena-says-will-install-1500-cryptocurrency-atms-el-salvador-2021-06-25/), and the headlines today talks about 200 (which I believe are supplied by Athena). Perhaps it’s the initial roll-out, which will be expanded over time to those 1.500 bitcoin ATMs. We’ll see.

This article (in Spanish), claiming to be acting as a sort of "ChivoLeaks", displays an alleged image of the Chivo Wallet’s architecture:
The article is not too sure on the veracity of the above, being the source attributed to El Tapudo (https://twitter.com/eltapudosv/status/1429870227899174912), who is apparently a comedian that opposed the Bitcoin Law there. No detail explanation either, but note that it references the Lightning Network. As mentioned, we need to take this with a grain of salt.

Here I’m referencing a document (in Spanish) I found, with technical rules to facilitate the implementation of the Bitcoin Law:
https://www.bcr.gob.sv/regulaciones/upload/Normas_Tecnicas_para_Facilitar_la_Aplicacion_de_la_Ley_Bitcoin.pdf
The document was released a week ago, and if valid, it states on page 12, article 27 that (translated):
It does not explicitly mention Chivo (or else), and to add a bit more confusion, the article comes under a section called "ATM from bitcoin to dollars and vice-versa".

Leaving ATMs aside,  the article, which I’ve only skimmed through, does place a lot of focus on AML, GAFI recommendations and so forth. Page 21 article 51 for example talks about entities needing to retain and forward information on TX sender, receiver, amounts, etc. Perhaps it only applies to TXs over 1K $ (explicitly mentioned in article 50).
Here I’m confused (yet again) as to the scope. It references financial institutions, but I’d really like to properly understand whether this all applies to Chivo (which I suspect it does), and what will happen if someone wants to make a purchase in a store from their own non-Chivo wallet for quantities both below and above 1K.

All in all, the more I read, the more confused I get, so I either stop reading, or I need to read through the references 20 times to try grasp the proper content. I’m more lenient to the former, and I’ll await the roll-out to read through the experience/issues/limitations/controls then …

Edit: This came to mind:

Good for them, another way to increase support and sentiment of the public towards their adoption of bitcoin. Hopefully this can soften up the people and have them feel that bitcoin is their friend. Hopefully this doesn't cause rallies or protest in El Salvador.

Well this is good news for bitcoin, the market as a whole and El Salvado in particular, this is their good attempt to close the gap to the hard exposure that comes from the educational preparation of  How to use bitcoin in a better, more friendly way.  200 ATMs is an impressive start for a country as small as El Salvado, but their momentum is immense. In my opinion, it is reasonable to start promoting equipment to build infrastructure to serve the use / exchange / payment bitcoin for people.
I am glad to hear the positive, effective actions and signals from them!

It shows the power of Bitcoin network and Bitcoin transactions. They are built for everyone, and they provide borderless transactions with cheap transaction fees when network is not congested.

Bitcoin will become legal tender in that nation, just a few days left. Let's count it down.

Bitcoin is first then I expect Lightning network adoption in El Salvador. Bitcoin ATM has Lightning Network as far as I know.

I was also really skeptical initially. But since the usage of the "official wallet" is optional as far as I know(people are free to use other Lightning wallets), then I guess it's not as bad as we'd expect.

Maybe first set of Bitcoin ATMs did not have means of verification, with what I know about the recent Bitcoin ATMs, it depends on the amount you are transacting. For example, some will only verify your mobile number if transacting below $2000 (this will depend from ATM to ATM), any amount above $2000 will then require ID card or any other identity verification.

But the amount of transaction fee on Bitcoin ATM is always appropriately 10%, this is too high in my opinion, will El Salvador make it reduced in their country, I mean the transaction fee?

Is this Bitcoin ATMs regulated or monitored because I know that most Bitcoin ATMs don't have any way to track the people that use them so is it going to be different? This is a good move for El Salvador, it can help boost the adoption of bitcoin when they finally launch out all of the ATMs.

Great news  Just a small concern with the the ‘State backed crypto wallet’ - but I suppose they have to do this to increase mass adoption.
Interestingly ‘ chivo’ is slang for ‘cool’ .
Good luck to El Salvador BTC

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele confirmed in a tweet that the nation will be roll out about 200 ATMs and prepare 50 bank branches across the nation to allow residents to exchange crypto for fiat easily.


Image credit

Some few facts



Bukele, also said that adopting Bitcoin will save Salvadorans $400 million per year in fees for receiving remittances from abroad


What do you guys think about such a move by El Salvador?

Personally, I have mixed emotions when it comes to the part of a state-backed crypto wallet but a side from that, I think in general, it's a good thing for the citizens and Bitcoin adoption alike. This is a little a break from the news of other different nations banning trading and mining of cryptocurrencies and discouraging citizens from using them.

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1. https://www.ndtv.com/business/el-salvador-to-install-200-bitcoin-atms-as-part-of-the-governments-plan-to-make-the-token-legal-tender-2517158
2. https://forkast.news/headlines/el-salvador-bitcoin-atms-nationwide/