What Are Salvadorans Doing with their USD 30 Bitcoin Giveaways?

Source: AdobeStock / Milosz Maslanka

One of El Salvador’s largest newspapers has tried to answer the question of what Salvadorans have done with their 30 USD bitcoin (BTC) handouts – find five ways you’ve been using it.

The government has been trying to promote BTC adoption and increase interest in their Chivo Crypto wallet and app by offering new users $ 30 worth of BTC credit.

The website of the newspaper El Diario de Hoy identified in a new report five ways that Salvadorans try to use their BTC funds immediately.

Here they are:

1. Convert to fiat

Those who want to convert their tokens to Fiat USD will have to take a detour to do so. The government has prevented handout recipients from withdrawing directly from Chivo BTC ATMs. However, YouTubers have released a number of workarounds where users basically transfer their money to friends or family members. The recipient then replies by doing the same. This allows users to “withdraw” the full USD 30 at a Chivo ATM.

2. Sell the a loss

The media company reported that the Facebook Marketplace is now flooded with people offering to” buy” citizens USD 30 BTC handouts for USD 25 in cash, cash out in bank transfers or through e-pay platforms. The media company added as a caveat that those who go down this path”should be careful, as it could lead to fraud” hatched by “malicious individuals.”

3. Spend it on food

“Supermarkets,” the media company noted, accept Chivo BTC payments (like a slew of other retailers and service providers in the nation). Thus, Salvadorans have used the BTC on their weekly shopping trips” as long as the Chivo Wallet system works,” it added sharply.

4. Transfer it to” another, more secure wallet”

The media company, which is largely skeptical of BTC and President Nayib Bukele, wrote that” some people distrust the state-issued Chivo app” citing centralized control as the reason. As such, it added that some have chosen “safer and more decentralized wallet options” – even if that means paying commission fees for withdrawals.

5. Bank it

Some have investigated workarounds that allow you to credit bank accounts. Again, cooperation with a friend who uses a feature of the Chivo app to credit someone else’s USD bank account with BTC funds is used. The friend then reciprocates, leaving both parties with USD 30 in the bank accounts of both parties. The media company noted that “sometimes” this process is “not immediate”, but nevertheless it was” effective”.”

Elsewhere, a leading economist has warned that the widespread adoption of BTC should be seen as a long-term project rather than a quick fix process.

According to La Prensa Gráfica, the president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), Dante Mossi, stated that the introduction of Bitcoin as legal tender is an “innovative project”, but the widespread use of the coin in El Salvador “will take years.”

Mossi added that while “financial inclusion” via BTC is an “innovative” move, it would” take a long time “for BTC to become” a currency that competes with BITCOIN.] More traditional currencies.”

And Bukele, who not so long ago (jokingly) called himself the “dictator of El Salvador”, has now edited his Twitter profile to call himself the “coolest dictator in the world”.”

Credit: Twittter/Nayib Bukele