Chivo Regrets?
Lozano, who is also the co-founder of Panda Exchange, led the team which created the Chivo Wallet (wallet) for the El Salvador Government.
Chivo, the first Bitcoin wallet run by a government, was launched in September 2021 to great acclaim.
To encourage adoption, the state offered Salvadoran users $30 in BTC as a “golden welcome” when they opened an Chivo wallet.
This led to many accusations of fraud and identity theft. There were also reports of Chivo bugs which caused accounts to be frozen.
Many people claim that they downloaded the app only to get the $30 gift, which they then immediately exchanged for fiat.
After an initial surge, the app’s popularity dropped sharply. It has since been plagued with controversy.
Lozano said that “saying goodbye to” the Bitcoin wallet was a “logical part of El Salvador’s development.”
Lozano spoke in response to the decision by the Salvadoran Government to discontinue or privatize the Chivo wallet.
The government claims that service would not be disrupted during the sale of Chivo. Lozano, however, said that this decision was a “mistake.”
Experts added that the decision of the state would only benft panies that offer Bitcoin wallet services, and can now attract Salvadoran customers.”
He said that he had worked on the project alongside experts from Athena Bitcoin, a US-based company. Lozano, however, opined the team was not equipped to deal with Chivo.
Lozano stated that Chivo’s problems were already apparent in December 2021. He said that the government should’ve said something at this point.
