On June 24th, President Bukele, in a national broadcast, cleared up misconceptions about El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law and presented the government’s wallet. But, unfortunately, that created a whole lot of new misconceptions about the app itself, the newly minted Chivo Wallet. Most of the criticism is about the personal data the app aims to collect. It will effectively tie your identity with your Bitcoin activity, and the government will have direct access to all that data, critics claim.
President Bukele clears misconceptions around Chivo wallet.
El Salvadorian President Bukele cleared several misconceptions surrounding bitcoin law and Chivo wallet in a series of Tweets. The Central American country doesn’t yet have a law to protect personal data. The country recently rejected a proposal for something similar. Bukele clarified that the government wallet is just one of many wallets that can be used, and the Chivo wallet will be fully compatible with other wallets. Replying to critics, Bukele tweeted that the government already has the personal data that the wallet asks for. In the ID, we have the picture, full name, age, address, phone, height, fingerprints, etc., the president tweeted.
Aclarando la desinformación que están tratando de esparcir acerca de la #LeyBitcoin:
1. La wallet del Gobierno solo es una de tantas wallets que se pueden usar.
2. La @chivowallet será totalmente compatible con otras wallets.
Sigue…
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) June 28, 2021
“The use of the Chivo Wallet will have no cost.”
El Salvador tweeted that the use of the Chivo Wallet will have no cost. There will be no commissions to send or receive remittances or to make or receive payments. Nor to convert bitcoin to dollars or vice versa, he added. No commission will be charged to merchants, unlike credit cards. In his last tweet, Bukele said that there would be more than 200 Chivo points (between ATMs and branches) in historical centers and shopping centers, where you will be able to withdraw dollars in cash from the Chivo Wallet.
