El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele says his technical team has squashed all remaining Chivo bitcoin (BTC) wallet and app-related bugs and added more hardware compatibility for smartphones, tablets, and laptops – but will likely have to deal with a growing mound of problems that could hamper his BTC adoption drive.
Just days after stating that a number of technical issues that had blighted the September 7 rollout had been “95% addressed,” Bukele declared:
“The Chivo app is already working at 100%.”
The President added that Chivo was “now available for download also on all Blu, Xiaomi, Motorola, TCL and ZTE models,” also adding that Sky, Google Pixel, Bmobile, and Lenovo functionality had also been secured.
However, he noted that of the “150 Xiaomi models” and a number of Lenovo devices that now have Chivo compatibility, 30 are Chinese models that are not compatible with Google Play. But he added that even on such models, the app was nonetheless available for download via Huawei’s App Gallery marketplace.
He had previously claimed that it has “over half a million users”, or about 8% of the country’s population, were now using the app.
But if Bukele’s technical issues are abating, other worries are starting to emerge – both internationally and domestically.
Reuters reported that BTC adoption would likely have “immediate negative implications” on El Salvador’s S&P global credit rating. This follows a similar downgrade from Moody’s, which cut its B- rating to Caa1 in July this year.
S&P justified its reasoning by explaining that adoption could “threaten its hopes of securing a support program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)” and also “increase fiscal vulnerabilities” while damaging the cause of domestic banks by “creating currency mismatches” when issuing loans.
S&P was quoted as stating:
“The risks associated with the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador seem to outweigh its potential benefits.”
Meanwhile, on the domestic level, the Salvadoran Court of Accounts is set to investigate a complaint about the manner in which Bukele and his government have made their various bitcoin buys, as well as the way in which it has gone about building Chivo ATM-housing kiosks.
The body audits companies and government organs that have access to public funds.
El Diario de Hoy reported that the complaint was brought forward by a human rights watch body named Cristosal. A lawyer with the body confirmed that the complaint had been lodged against a number of ministerial officials overseeing the BTC buys and kiosk construction.
The lawyer added that Cristosal believed the decision-makers had hurried through decisions on the allocation of public funds without following legal procedure, which dictates that such matters are processed in no more than eight working days.
Cristosal called the measures “unconstitutional.”
And the same media outlet reported that “thousands” of Salvadorans had taken to the street to protest Bukele’s rule. As well as the BTC adoption plan, Bukele and his administration have faced pushback after removing a number of high-ranking judges in some of the country’s top courts and apparently replacing them with pro-government supporters.
Bukele has also successfully changed the constitution to allow presidents to run for and serve a second term. Previously, a president had to wait 10 years after completing a term in office before standing again. But the Constitutional Court, which critics say is now fully staffed with Bukele supporters, altered the law earlier this month – a fact that could allow Bukele to stand for reelection in 2024.
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Learn more:
– Thousands Joined Anti-Bitcoin March in El Salvador, BTC ATM Torched
– El Salvador Bitcoin App Is a Private Firm Funded by Public Funds, Say Media
– Bitcoin Accepted in Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Everywhere in El Salvador
– Bitcoin’s Legal in El Salvador – But Still Has a Mountain to Climb
– Surveys: Most of El Salvador Public Is Opposed to Bitcoin Adoption Law
– IMF Says Making Bitcoin a National Currency is an ‘Inadvisable Shortcut’
– El Salvador Will Be a Serious Test for Bitcoin’s Layer-2 Networks
– El Salvador Brings New Global Puzzle – What Is Bitcoin & How To Tax It?
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