Note that problems with the cryptocurrency wallet have been reported before. In particular, in mid-autumn, locals reported the loss of their own $30, which should be credited when registering a new account with Chivo. Which means it's likely that fraudsters used other people's identities and took possession of other people's funds. Read more about this story in a separate article.


Where are El Salvador’s bitcoins going?

A cryptocurrency enthusiast under the nickname El Comisonado has already collected more than 50 credible cases of Salvadoran citizens complaining about coins disappearing from their wallets. Here is his quote on the matter, published on Decrypt.

The government is silent and won’t acknowledge the wallet problems. This is exactly one of those things where people need clarity here and now. Many of them have been waiting for months for their complaints about missing cryptocurrency to be addressed.

Accordingly, the social activist emphasises the importance of missing digital assets to local residents. Still, some of them transfer their own savings into BTC in the hope of making money. However, in such a case, it has ended up in large losses that no one is able to help.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele

Among those affected, another crypto-enthusiast under the nickname Rogzy also responded to journalists’ requests for comment. Here’s his rejoinder, in which the local shares his take on the situation.

I don’t think Chivo is safe. No one can confirm this as the wallet code is locked. Also, few people use it today, most just don’t understand how it works.

President Bukele has not yet made any official statement about the complaints about Chivo. He himself is known for his authoritarian politics, against which he has no visible opponents in the country to criticise his Bitcoin adoption strategy. We believe that such an important development for the crypto industry is only likely to tarnish it if Salvadorans’ problems with their Bitcoins are not resolved immediately, and the scale of the malfunction increases.

Turkey could soon follow in El Salvador’s footsteps, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announcing the completion of a law on cryptocurrencies the day before. The document will soon come up for a vote in the country’s parliament. Trying to counter the falling Turkish lira, the president shared his plans for the new economic model during a speech at a press conference in Istanbul. Here is his line in which the politician shares his vision of the current situation. Cointelegraph cites the quote.

We will take steps on the issue of the crypto law by sending it to parliament immediately.

Accordingly, the law on interaction with digital assets sounds like a priority here. However, Turkey is already a country with one of the most active blockchain communities in the world without it. So there is a chance that things will hardly change for these people - they are clearly already saving at least in stabelcoins, which are cryptocurrencies linked to the dollar exchange rate.

Turkish lira exchange rate against the dollar

The exchange rate of the Turkish lira against the US dollar has broken all records this month as the national currency reacts to the prolonged economic crisis in the country. The likelihood that crypto may even be seen by local officials as a kind of “last resort” to salvage the situation. However, the authorities’ desire to do something about it is hardly believable now.


We believe that these problems are a consequence of the large-scale introduction of a new payment instrument across the whole country. Obviously, it would be impossible to avoid such problems, but in this case it all comes down to the willingness and ability to solve them. And if these components are not in place, then citizens' trust in the new solution will fall - and that will certainly have an impact on Bitcoin's reputation as well.


What do you think about this? Share your opinion in our Millionaire Crypto Chat. We’ll talk about other blockchain and decentralisation topics there as well.