BCGAME - Free 5BTC Daily Bonus!Citizens of El Salvador are getting to know their new digital currency bitcoin (BTC) in legal tender – and have started buying everything from Big Macs to fresh coffee using the Lightning Network.
The state-owned Chivo encryption wallet overcame some initial troubles in app stores and marketplaces to skyrocket to the top of the Apple Store's finance app download list – a fact that was immediately feted by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
From inside El Salvador, Mario Aguiluz, Vice President of Sales at Guatemalan brokerage IBEX Mercado, shared a video of his purchase of a Starbucks coffee for BTC, with a transaction that took just moments to be approved using his cell phone. and a barista.
This is all the critics who said # Bitcoin would never be used to buy coffee. Just paid for mine at Starbucks in #The Savior. I just hope this doesn't become the new 10,000 BTC pizza… pic.twitter.com/JXXGJbKKOG
— Mario Aguiluz (@maguiluz301) September 7, 2021
He noted that "El Salvador today looks like a treasure hunt, finding out who else is accepting bitcoin."
Add Pizza Hut to that list. Bart Mol, the founder and host of Satoshi Radio Podcast, tweeted some of his adventures on “Bitcoin Day” in El Salvador, including a “totally no-custodial” transaction at the restaurant “using our own knot in the Netherlands” for a cost of “ 26 sats."
“This is so silly,” he wrote.
I'm in San Salvador on #bitcoin day. Starting this thread to keep you posted.
My feeling as of this moment: we are witnessing history. pic.twitter.com/u9S9r7S0zX
—Bart Mol (@Bart_Mol) September 7, 2021
Other international reporters also noted that their efforts to spend bitcoin were successful.
Just walked into a McDonald's in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, also fully expecting to be told no.
But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I'm enjoying my holiday traditional! pic.twitter.com/NYCkMNbv7U
— Aaron van Widum (@AaronvanW) September 7, 2021
Notable BTC supporters expressed their support, with Michael Saylor, the BTC enthusiast MicroStrategy CEO, calling bitcoin on the Lightning Network "indestructible money moving at the speed of light."
Edward Snowden, who like Saylor also shared videos of major brands accepting BTC payments in San Salvador, joined the conversation, commenting:
“There is now pressure on competing nations to acquire bitcoin – if only as a reserve asset – as its design massively encourages early adoption. Latecomers may regret hesitating. ”
A triumphant Jack Mallers, the CEO of Strike, the company that partnered with Bukele on his lightning journey, also provided video evidence of a “friend” converting BTC to cash in a “free” transaction using one of the government's new BTC ATMs .
But there was no lack of resistance either. El Diario de Hoy reported that “hundreds” of Salvadorans took to the streets in a “massive” protest against the new law, which gave legal tender to the BTC as of midnight last night.
The same media outlet highlighted potential privacy concerns with state-issued software. He noted that the Chivo app asks users to grant access to microphone, camera and storage, as well as access to their contacts.
The newspaper quoted a computer scientist as saying:
“There are other digital wallets that do not request or need this type of information. It's unnecessary. ”
A local software programmer said this was an example of “very bad practice in terms of privacy and data protection”.
