El Salvador’s Bitcoin wallet onboards 4M users with Netki partnership

Published at: Jan. 18, 2022

El Salvador, the first country to make Bitcoin (BTC) a legal tender has onboarded 4 million users for its government-backed BTC wallet Chivo in partnership with digital identity provider Netki, according to an announcement.

Netki has announced that Chivo wallet onboarded over 4 million new users in 45 days using the company’s flagship KYC/AML product, OnboardID. The platform also claimed that it had facilitated the compliant onboarding of 70% of the country’s previously unbanked population. 

El Salvador passed the Bitcoin bill in June last year and officially made Bitcoin a legal tender along with the U.S. dollar in September. Nayib Bukele, the President of the small Central American nation, made it clear that the goal was to offer digital banking facilities to more than 70% unbanked population in the country. To promote BTC use and ease of transactions, the government launched a national crypto wallet named Chivo and a $30 airdrop in BTC.

Major financial institutions, including the World Bank and the IMF, shared drastic forecasts while warning El Salvador of unwarranted economic consequences. However, President Bukele continued to promote Bitcoin use in the country and rebuked all the fear-mongering. After the IMF rejected $1 billion financial aid, the El Salvador government launched Bitcoin volcanic bond as Bitcoin proponent Max Keiser advised.

Earlier today, President Bukele also responded to Moody’s recent downgrading of El Salvador's sovereign debt and said, “BREAKING: EL SALVADOR DGAF”

BREAKING: EL SALVADOR DGAF https://t.co/VuJ25PcvQL

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 17, 2022

Related: El Salvador’s dollar debt dives on Bitcoin bond plans

Chivo has been instrumental in making El Salvador the first country to make Bitcoin easy as using fiat. Apart from transferring money worldwide, Chivo wallets are being used for daily transactions at restaurants, cafeterias, malls and every other retail market.

The government has also deployed hundreds of Bitcoin ATMs across the country that facilitates millions in cross-border remittance. Chivo has managed to do what banks haven’t been able to do in decades. 

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