San Salvador (AFP)
Miguel is curious, Alvaro wants to earn money, Marni needs it to receive transfers from his close emigrants and Nuria is worried: in a square in San Salvador, the capital, we try to understand how the "Chivo" works. , the virtual wallet launched by the authorities to use bitcoin, which has become legal tender in El Salvador.
"I wanted to get out of the uncertainty, dispel my doubts. See what it is, how it works," said Alvaro Garcia, 47, a portefaix in a market in the capital.
El Salvador on Tuesday became the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender, alongside the dollar, which replaced the national currency, the colonist, 20 years ago.
This ambitious - and controversial - monetary reform was launched by the very popular President Nayib Bukele.
But bitcoin's first day in El Salvador was marked by technical issues downloading the e-wallet, as bitcoin unscrewed, losing 17% of its market value.
The virtual wallet is in principle accessible only to Salvadorans, residing in the country or abroad.
To ensure its success, the government christened it "Chivo", which means "awesome" or "awesome" in colloquial terms.
- "Point Chivo" -
To use bitcoin Salvadorians must therefore download the "Chivo" on their smartphone and go to the 200 terminals, called "Point Chivo", installed by the authorities and where you can make transactions in both currencies and especially change cryptocurrency in greenbacks.
A man wearing a sanitary mask bearing the effigy of President Nayib Bukele expresses his satisfaction in front of a "Point Chivo" terminal in San Salvador, September 7, 2021 MARVIN RECINOS AFP
Even though it is unpopular because it is taken from public funds, the bonus of the equivalent of $ 30 in bitcoin paid to each new user of "Chivo" has delighted many who took advantage of the windfall, in a country where 35.9% of the 6.6 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
"Thank God they are giving this $ 30. It is something new, something good and that we are enjoying," said Alvaro, who stood in line at a "Point Chivo" in the historic center of San. Salvador for an agent to explain how to download and install the application on his phone.
For the government, bitcoin will make it easier for emigrants to send money while saving on bank fees and commissions, insists the Minister of the Economy Maria Luisa Hayem.
Three million Salvadorans live abroad, the majority in the United States, and their remittances to relatives back home represent 22% of El Salvador's GDP.
Marni, 31, has a sister in Houston, Texas: "She sends me $ 300, and on that we pay $ 30 (bank commission). We hope that with bitcoin we won't pay all of that." , she says.
"I think it's good, that it will be easier. On the phone I will see if (the price of bitcoin) has fallen or not", she adds: Marni put 20 dollars on his wallet- virtual currency, in addition to the $ 30 bonus.
- "I don't want to be dumped" -
"I at least want to learn, I don't want to be dumped. There are very negative people, who don't want new technologies. We have a small country but it is (an event) global", welcomes Miguel Angel. Vasquez, a 64-year-old retiree.
Others, like Franklin Saravia, 33, are already depositing their income on the "Chivo".
"I have a business on the internet: tech items sold online. I just put in $ 100 for a chance to win bitcoin," he explains.
"I was paid for solar-powered lamps with bitcoin (...) I bet 100 dollars on this new possibility. I am determined to win or lose a little, that and the 30 dollars that the State, ”Franklin adds.
Yet seven in ten Salvadorans are more or less opposed to bitcoin as legal tender, according to a recent survey by the Central American University (UCA).
During a demonstration against the authorization of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador, September 7, 2021 in San Salvador MARVIN RECINOS AFP
Additionally, 82.8% of respondents said they did not trust cryptocurrency, and 65.2% said they did not want to download "Chivo".
The government has not communicated the number of downloads of the application on the first day of the reform.
The law states that "any economic actor will have to accept bitcoin as a means of payment" for goods or services.
But if you don't want bitcoin, the "Chivo" will immediately convert the cryptocurrency into dollars.
Nuria Vazquez, 47, who has a "Point Chivo" terminal a few meters from her shop does not hear it that way.
"Me, (the bitcoin) I do not take it. The dollar suits me well. If someone comes and wants to buy like that, I will tell him: + me, I want dollars +, I will give him dollars and give me dollars, ”she says as she pours oil into a huge fryer where she will cook potatoes to sell in the Central Market of San Salvador.
© 2021 AFP