The El Salvadoran government has tapped the services of a U.S. white-label software firm AlphaPoint, to improve the overall performance of the Chivo bitcoin wallet.
Improved Scalability and Stability for Chivo Wallet
El Salvador is leveraging AlphaPoint’s technology to fix the problems found in the government bitcoin wallet, Chivo. The company started work on the Chivo wallet back in December 2021.
Shortly after the implementation of the Bitcoin Law in September 2021, the Nayib Bukele-led government launched Chivo. The El Salvador President announced that citizens would receive $30 worth of bitcoin when they download the wallet app.
Also, Salvadorans using the app would not pay any commission on conversion and cash withdrawals across 200 ATMs in the country. In addition, there would be zero commission for users who use the app to send remittances, without also needing to carry cash.
However, the Chivo wallet had technical issues on the day it was launched, causing the government to temporarily take down the app for maintenance. The problems continued to persist over the months, with users complaining about their funds missing from their wallets.
In response to the complaints, the El Salvador government decided to partner with AlphaPoint to utilize the latter’s technology to improve the Chivo mobile application. The latest development could provide a solution for over 4 million users of the BTC wallet.
AlphaPoint, which has been offering its crypto-related services since 2013, worked on the frontend and backend infrastructure of the Chivo wallet app and also “improved the Lightning integration for nearly instantaneous low-fee Bitcoin transactions via QR and Lightning addresses.”