El Salvador's first introduction of Bitcoin met with difficulties

The Chivo digital wallet was available on Tuesday shortly before lunchtime local time on the app platforms hosted by Apple and Huawei after President Nayib Bukele, who urged the introduction of cryptocurrency and promised every user of $ 30, did not scold the application against the technologies.

The government bought another 150 bitcoins worth around $ 7 million on Tuesday, and McDonalds began to accept the cryptocurrency in its restaurants in El Salvador.

bukele said that the use of Bitcoin would help the Salvadorians save $ 400 million a year of commissions for transfers, and at the same time enables access to financial services for those without bank account.

Carlos Garcia, who gave advice on the new currency at a stand in a shopping center to find out about the functioning of transactions, said he was enthusiastic about the possibilities that Bitcoin could offer.

"El Salvador takes a big step forward today," he said.

The poorest could, however, have difficulty accessing the technology that is necessary so that Bitcoin in El Salvador works, where almost half of the population has no internet access and many are more only sporadically connected.

"I will continue to suffer with or without Bitcoin," said confectionery seller Jose Herrera, who said he had problems accessing a mobile phone.

Over a thousand people protested against the introduction of Bitcoin around noon, marching to the building of the Supreme Court, burning a tire and ignited fireworks.

Some say that the step could stir up money laundering and financial instability. It has already sparked the prospects for financing of more than $ 1 billion that El Salvador is aiming for from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Bukele, 40, cuts off well in opinion surveys, but not least accused the government of US President Joe Biden to undermine democracy.

Last week decided by his legislators that he could serve a second term, and thus broke out of a constitutional rule that prohibited consecutive terms

On Tuesday before, Salvadorians, who tried to download the digital wallet from Chivo, found that it was not available in the most important app stores. Bukele said the government temporarily separated it to connect more servers to cover the demand.

Bukele blamed Apple Inc, Alphabets Google and Huaweis app download platforms for the delay.

"Leave him free! @aple @google and @huawei," wrote Bukele in a tweet that was accompanied by a red -faced "angry" emoji. The wallet was later available from Huawei and Apple.

Google and Apple did not react immediately to inquiries about comments.

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Surveys show that the Salvadorians are suspicious of the volatility of the cryptocurrency, which can lose hundreds of dollars in one day.

Before the introduction, EL Salvador bought 400 bitcoins worth around $ 20 million, said Bukele, helping to drive the currency price over $ 52,000 for the first time since May. Hours later Bitcoin was weakened and was last traded by 8.84 % to $ 47,327.32.

ether , another cryptocurrency, fell by 10.52 % to $ 3,537.62, while the crypto tour coinbase global by 3.96 % Transactions had reported on their platform.

The change means that companies should accept payments in Bitcoin in addition to the US dollar, which has been the official currency of El Salvador since 2001 and will remain legal payment.

It remains unclear whether companies are punished if they do not accept Bitcoin.

In the run -up to the market launch, the government installed ATMs that enable to convert bitcoins into dollars and to withdraw from the digital wallet called Chivo without commission.

"Like all innovations, the Bitcoin process in El Salvador has a learning curve," said Bukele in a tweet. "Not everything is reached in one day or in a month."

"We have to break the paradigms of the past. El Salvador has the right to penetrate the first world," he wrote.

In almost two years in office, Bukele took over almost all of the power lever. But even though he promised to clean up the graft, the bidges recently put some of its narrow allies on a black corruption list.

Analysts fear that the introduction of Bitcoin, whose transaction records are spread over the Internet, outside the reach of national jurisdiction that could heat up money laundering.

After the adoption of the Bitcoin Act, the rating agency Moody’s classified the creditworthiness of El Salvador, while the bonds that are also under pressure.

The World Bank confirmed on Tuesday that El Salvador could not help with Bitcoin as a legal means of payment "given environmental and transparency defects", a spokesman for the World Bank told Reuters.

A look at all business events of today can be found in our economic calendar.

(Reporting by Anthony Esposito in Mexico City and Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; additional reporting by Wilfredo Pineda in El Zonte, El Salvador and Frank Jack Daniel; Editor of Alistair Bell and Rosalba O’Brien)