Buoyant Bukele Blasts Critics as Bitcoin Price Booms and Salvadorans Buy BTC

Source: A video screenshot, Youtube / thecartherv

The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, seems to be in a triumphant mood as global Bitcoin (BTC) prices rise, claiming that citizens are going on a BTC buying spree and attacking opponents – but reports of bugs and unresolved issues related to the Chivo wallet continue to circulate.

Bukele claims that some USD 2m per day has now been transferred through the Chivo platform and that Bitcoin purchases have been on the rise.

As BTC prices surged towards the USD 55,000 mark, he also took the time to meet his critics in the media and in the political world, many of whom were loudest in the days following the passage of the Bitcoin law last month, when BTC prices slumped.

He wrote:

“Have you noticed how calm the opposition has become? They would jump for joy [.] If Bitcoin had dropped. It is clear and unquestionable that they want the worst for our country and our people. They are not even interested in hiding it anymore.”

Bukele also retweeted a post in a similar vein from one of his supporters who claimed:

“If you had spent the money you spent making ‘NO to Bitcoin’ t-shirts to buy Bitcoin, you would be richer now.”

Bukele will probably claim that his decision to “buy” the dip at the end of September seems to have already paid off. But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the president.

Users continued to say they have issues with the Chivo app, with one responding directly to Bukele’s tweet, claiming that Chivo support staff had “not offered an immediate solution” to a problem they reported.

And one of the media that opposed Bukele and his Bitcoin plans, the newspaper El Diario de Hoy, reported that the Chivo problems and complaints from more users remain unanswered.

The newspaper bore testimony from a user who claimed that she did not have a referral about the December 4, 2011, incident. He received the app sent on October 19 – and urgently needed the funds to “buy medicine.”

Another claimed to have lost over USD800 due to “GLITCHES” in the app and had waited almost two weeks for his issue to be resolved.

The media quoted Carlos Palomo, an expert in computer systems and president of a body called Transparency, Social Comptroller and Open Data Association (TRACODA).”MAINLY business owners” had encountered problems with Chivo and had suffered “LOSSES between USD 100 and USD 150” due to “technical problems on the platform”.”

He added that in some cases, the employees of the Chivo App call center admitted that “they did not know what was going on.”
Palomo concluded that it was likely, that Chivo support staff “do not have adequate training.”