salvadorean living in germany does visit to el salvador to test BTC implementation. this is what happened.

hello everyone.

i am finally visiting el salvador after 4 years. i was eager to check how btc was implemented and buy pupusas with : p . i got to start to say that i am an IT guy in germany. i am btc gold and silver hodler. my purpose with this text is to give you my experience here as local and really realistic. just as it is.

after i arrived at el salvador i installed the chivo wallet. one cant from europe. the process to create the account is straight forward. simple and easy. sadly after many attemps the app could not validate my identity.

i went the next day to a chivo support location. it was well located at the center of the city. they tried the process and kept failing. then they opened a ticket and i had to wait some hours to receive a message confirming it was fix. and indeed i was capable to finish the process and saw the 30 free dollars the government grants as gift.

the next day i looked for a place to spend btc in the capital and 2nd bigger city in el salvador. the truth. to this day. very few stores accept btc. mostly is accepted by big names or store chains.

i tried to pay cinema 1st and it was not posible. the app threw an error saying my funds were only to be spent on commercial locations. well. it didnt make any sense and i had to pay with fiat. after that i went to eat piźza and when paying. now the app said i had no funds....

these government funds block are programmed not to work. my cousin was with me. so we got an idea. i transfered all the satoshis to him. to make sure i dont own those crappy funds and block my wallet. and fortunatelly he was able to use those funds to pay from his wallet.

for paying with btc here you got to tell the stores in advance. sometimes one has to pay at a different window. so far the process seems slower than fiat and a little inconvinience. but it is in my opinion still acceptable.

what is not acceptable is the app not working. nonetheless the design and simplicity is top. i like it.

after match: i was thinking about transfering 20 btc euros from binance to test if it would finally work for payments and how long it would take to get the funds in the wallet. i have hear bad experiences regarding this.

while checking the app i stumbled on the policies. yes. i am the guy who reads these things. what i found shocked me.

the app is not owned the the government. but a private company. i found out the president created this mask company instead of using the central bank of el salvador. not only that. he is giving public funds to this company to do everything.

also shoking is that the company has access to ids and personal data from salvadoreans without consent. it is very easy to supplant the identity on this app. you only need a copy from the id. there are many cases of the 30 free dollars getting stolen. also people using someone else identity will create transactions and put you on tax troubles.

the policies of the app remove all responsability from chivo sa de cv, the company, so whatever happen to the app. server. funds. identity. wallet. etc. you lose.

many people warned me the president was on something dark with the btc implementation. i wanted to try it and investigate myself. now i see it clearly.

at the end i uninstalled the app. there is no option to close the account. wallet and stop them to access my personal data.

i am sad this is the result at the end. as fan of liberty, btc and the work of that guy who worked the implementation at el zonte. it is quite disappointing.

best regards,

geogiam

pd: i apreciate ideas. questions and more information. as stated it is not a tourist experience neither i have experience. also i dont move on lower income sectors of society. it is completly the opposite.

i go to big stores. malls and cities. these are formal commerce and must declare taxes. they wont trade in black.

people that surrounds me does not need remesas, they got no problems with banks or cc, neither eat on the street.

that is why i am thinking btc was not implemented for this people. they dont need it.

i will try the ln wallet and go somewhere else and keep asking.

at least i am clear chivo wallet is not good with such policies and problems and.... i got free pizza from papa jones. : d