Bitcoin in El Salvador #4: BTC vs USD in the Chivo Wallet

Good day fellow Hivers and LEOFinancers,

Today I wanted to give you an update on the official El Salvadoran Bitcoin wallet "Chivo". The following information should be helpful to you if you happen to take an unexpected trip to El Salvador ;)

The discovery I made is that the default option is to receive a digital form of the US dollar, rather than Bitcoin. You will notice that when the user taps the receive button there are two options "USD" and "BTC".

In order for you to be able to spend your Bitcoin, you need them to tap the BTC option. At that point, they will be given an option to receive Bitcoin via the Lightning network. They can tap that for speedier payment, punch in the total amount (valued in dollars), and then tap the receive button to get the QR code.

You scan the QR with your Lightning wallet and send the Bitcoin. Sometimes the Chivo "payment received" notification shows up immediately, and sometimes it takes forever. Anyways, if you backtrack to the main interface you will see that one of their totals, either USD or BTC has increased. I've noticed on multiped occasions that their USD balance has gone up, even though I sent them Bitcoin.

There is an option in the settings to automatically convert Bitcoin into USD, and I think this may be the default option, as I've seen this happen to several people who I've paid in Bitcoin. A lot of businesses probably like this option, as the price of Bitcoin can be quite volatile.

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You should ask them first, but you can go into the settings and disable this automatic conversion. I recommend that peope keep a percentage of their payments in Bitcoin as a savings account, and only keep what they need for daily expenses in USD.

I hope you find this information useful, and that you take an unexpected trip to El Salvador soon...

Feel free to drop a comment or question below.

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Sources

Thumbnail -> https://www.pressenza.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/
Chivo Wallet -> https://www.chivowallet.com/