Funds are Disappearing From Bitcoin Accounts of Salvadorans

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Residents of El Salvador are inexplicably losing Bitcoins in the state-owned cryptocurrency wallet Chivo, New Scientist has reported.

The publication has referred to Twitter user El Comisionado, who documented 50 such cases, totaling over $96,220. According to the user:

“The government does not admit mistakes and is silent. But this is one of the things that people demand an answer to. Some have been waiting for months to get their money back.”

Few people use the wallet, he said, because most users “don’t know how it works.”

President Nayib Bukele has previously stated Chivo has reached 2.1 million users.

He has also acknowledged the technical problems with the implementation of the Chivo wallet. The claims were mainly related to the accrual and receipt of $30 in Bitcoin, which the government paid to users for registering in the application.

On September 7, El Salvador passed a law recognizing Bitcoin as an official means of payment along with the US dollar.