El Salvador Enlists AlphaPoint to Fix its Nationwide ChivoWallet

The El Salvadorian government announced a contract with U.S software company AlphaPoint to fix the buggy state-sponsored Bitcoin wallet, as well as implementing the Lightning Network into the app.

AlphaPoint is a New York-based company that started work on improving the Chivo wallet in December of 2021. Adding an improved user interface, fixing various bugs, and implementing a feature enabling the app to handle the Lightning Network.

The Lightning Network is a second-layer solution, helping speed up Bitcoin transactions, while reducing costs for users, with the goal being to make it an easy experience to spend using Bitcoin.

"AlphaPoint has improved the Lightning integration for nearly instantaneous low-fee Bitcoin transactions via QR and Lightning addresses," AlphaPoint co-founder and CEO Igor Telyatnikov told Decrypt. "This is the first deployment of Lightning at this scale."

Vadim Telyatnikov, AlphaPoint's co-founder and chairman, added: "The lighting implementation is a key feature as it allows for Bitcoin transactions of any size, allowing the sending of a single satoshi (under a penny). This is not possible for regular on-chain Bitcoin transactions due to higher fees."

The state-sanctioned Chivo Wallet was rolled out in September for Salvadorian residents to purchase items using Bitcoin. The wallet is a centralized, custodial wallet. In short, the Salvadoran government ultimately controls and manages all funds.

The app was initially built by Athena Bitcoin, but was infamously broken and citizens found the experience to be obtuse.

AlphaPoint has now made the experience more user-friendly, according to both the company and the Salvadorian government. The newly refreshed app should help citizens and businesses deal with Bitcoin, as well as send remittances.

Bitcoin was declared legal tender in El Salvador in September of 2021, the idea came from the ill-famed leader Nayib Bukele. Now businesses with technological means have to accept the cryptocurrency.

Around four million citizens have downloaded the wallet, according to the government. The country’s population is just over six million.

Reports coming out of the country, since Bitcoin became legal tender have been somewhat mixed. Non-citizens point to the development’s potential to benefit its citizens, but actual citizens have found the rollout to be convoluted and confusing, and not just because of the buggy Chivo wallet.