4.5 million adult citizens will receive an airdrop of $30 Bitcoin (BTC) each from the government of El Salvador, the country’s President, Nayib Bukele has announced.
El Salvadorans to get a digital wallet
President Bukele made the announcement on Thursday as part of the package citizens of the country would benefit from following the introduction of an official digital wallet for bitcoin and other currencies in the country.
The new wallet, named Chivo, will form the basis for the everyday use of the cryptocurrencies which authorities had earlier approved as a legal tender.
A statement by the President indicated that the Bitcoin law, which is set to take effect on September 7, has numerous benefits such as remittances that can be made at any time of the day and disintermediation.
The wallet is set to be released later this year, with the Bitcoin law set to take effect on September 7. The wallet’s app, which will be available on both Android and iOS, will also be compatible with other digital wallets on the market.
Speaking during a press conference on Friday, Bukele noted that the wallet app will even work anywhere with a cell connection, and you won’t have to have a cell plan for the app.
Bitcoin Users About to Swell
While exact figures are still not available, popular on-chain analyst, Willy Woo, has tweeted that Bitcoins’ global user base will grow by 2.5% thanks to the influx of 4.5 million Salvadorians.
Assuming all 4.5m adults in El Salvador take up this offer, it’s roughly a 2.5% overnight boost to #bitcoin’s global user count. https://t.co/KwkYvb2fEE
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) June 25, 2021
In a similar trend, Yahoo Finance anchor Zack Guzman, in an envelope calculation, suggested that $195 million worth of Bitcoin will be airdropped across the country.
As the first country to make Bitcoin a ‘legal tender,’ El Salvador will be closely watched by observers keen to see how things develop for the asset especially as legal tender, which means businesses are compelled to accept it if it is the chosen means of payment.
While citizens still have the choice of accepting dollars, it will be telling how many choose to accept Bitcoin.
