Bitcoin in El Salvador #1: First Impressions

Hey Guys,

So I arrived in El Salvador a few days ago and wanted to share with you an initial report on what the situation is like in this country where Bitcoin was adopted as legal tender back in September.

First of all, you may be relieved to know that El Salvador lifted all covid restrictons a few weeks ago, so you can enter the country without a vaccine passport or a covid test. There is no quarantine requirement and they will not force you to install a "contract tracing" tracking app on your phone. The immigration officer I got was very friendly and even asked me about Japan when he saw the stamp in my passport.

You will notice Bitcoin ATMs setup in the international airport where you can buy and sell Bitcoin by providing a phone number. At immigration you must buy a $12 tourist entry card, and it was encouraging to see you can actually pay for it with Bitcoin!

The place I first stayed hasn't integrated Bitcoin yet (they are working on it), but most service people are willing to accept it as a tip because they already have the Chivo wallet installed on their phones. I think the government declaring it as legal tender and airdropping $30 to every citizen is what made this a reality. The great thing is that you don't need to go through the tedious process of showing people how to install a Bitcoin wallet and can simply move to the payment step.

The Chivo wallet accepts a digital form of USD as well as Bitcoin. Make sure the receiver has BTC selected or you will get an "invalid QR code" error message when trying to send them Bitcoin.

So far the El Salvadorean people have been very warm, welcoming ,and friendly. The locals who I've spoken to about Bitcoin have been supportive of the decision to make it legal tender in the country.

Until next time. Enjoy the rest of your holidays...

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