El Salvador to airdrop $30 in Bitcoin to every adult citizen

Published at: June 25, 2021

The president of El Salvador has announced the government will airdrop $30 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to every adult citizen of the country.

The announcement was welcomed by Bitcoiners, with influencers speculating that El Salvador’s government will need to purchase the required BTC it intends to distribute adding more than $100 million in buying pressure on markets.

Quickly googled estimates of the adult population of El Salvador varied, with on-chain analyst Willy Woo tweeting that Bitcoin’s global user base will grow by 2.5% thanks to the influx of 4.5 million Salvadorans.

Others placed the Salvadoran adult population as high as 6.5 million (which is actually the total population), with Yahoo Finance anchor Zack Guzman using the figure for some rough, back-of-the-envelope calculations, suggesting that $195 million worth of Bitcoin will be airdropped across the country.

6 million people added to the crypto ecosystem in one go. pic.twitter.com/DVoW6vLrAK

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 25, 2021

Exact figures are hard to find, but Statista shows that in 2019, the population aged 15 and above was 4.72 million.

However, Crypto Twitter’s euphoria may be be slightly premature, as local publication Prensa Latina notes El Salvador’s citizens will only receive the free Bitcoin after downloading the government-issued cryptocurrency wallet application.

The news was announced during a Friday press conference, with president Nayib Bukele stating the government’s “wallet app will even work anywhere with a cell connection, and you won’t have to have a cell plan for the app.”

President Bukele also stated that the country’s much-celebrated Bitcoin law recognizing BTC as legal currency nationwide will come into effect on Sept. 7.

Related: Opposition poses constitutional challenge to El Salvador's Bitcoin law

El Salvador’s Bitcoin law was passed roughly two weeks ago. While the move has been praised by the global crypto community, the legislation has faced opposition from a minority political party and the World Bank.

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