El Salvador has rolled out 50 commission-free Chivo bitcoin ATMs in 10 U.S. cities to make it easier and less expensive for people to send money to friends and family members in the Central America country.
The cities with Chivo bitcoin ATMs include Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, along with Columbus, Ohio; Doral, Fla.; and El Paso, Laredo and McAllen, Texas.
Salvadorans can create Chivo accounts using their national ID numbers and members can use the Chivo ATM bitcoin ATMs to make withdrawals and recharge their accounts. They can also use the wallet app to make payments or send bitcoin or dollars without paying a commission.
El Salvador president Nayim Bukele estimates more than 500,000 users have signed up for Chivo bitcoin wallets, which gave citizens with a $30 bitcoin bonus for registering. Government estimates said there were about 50,000 people using bitcoin in El Salvador before Chivo’s launch earlier this month.
The country now requires companies to accept bitcoin, which has sent the number of digital payment options at stores on an upward trajectory. Bukele says the El Salvador government has solved about 95 percent of the rollout-related issues, including bank transfer glitches and blocked accounts.
El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, approving the move in June and launching it three months later.
Related: El Salvador’s Adoption Triggers Bitcoin Price Slide
The El Salvador government installed 200 bitcoin ATMs around the country, having also recently bought 400 bitcoins worth around $20 million.
Bitcoin advocates have said for a while that there’s a case for Latin American countries making use of crypto to perform certain payments like remittances, along with letting central banks with high currency depreciation have a new option.
Also read: Poll Shows 70 Pct of Salvadorans Are Anti-Bitcoin
An August poll by the Central American University (UCA) — also known as José Simeón Cañas Central American University — showed that almost 70 percent of 1,281 El Salvador residents and a minimum of 67.9 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed with adopting bitcoin as legal tender.
A little more than 32 percent said they agreed on some level and about 70 percent of the survey respondents were in favor of having officials repeal the law.
