Last updated on January 20th, 2022 at 04:54 pm
Nayib Bukele, the President of El Salvador, has actively shown his support for Bitcoin. He has used his position to improve the usage of the cryptocurrency within the country by creating a wallet, a Bitcoin Fund, and incentives to encourage more locals to use it.
Recently, Bukele stated that residents who decide to buy gasoline with BTC will be rewarded with a subsidy of $0.20 per gallon. To benefit from this incentive, the locals have to make use of Chivo, the government-backed Bitcoin wallet. He made this known through some tweets that have been translated to mean:
“The state-owned Chivo has negotiated with the largest gas station companies in our country so that starting tomorrow, their stations will sell each gallon of fuel $0.20 cheaper, with the Chivo wallet.”
The President went on to say that there is no restriction on how much subsidy residents could enjoy. Not only is the discount expected to improve the usage of the crypto within the country, but it will also ensure that transport costs do not escalate.
Some may have been elated with this news, but others tell a different tale. To some, the subsidy was meant to convince residents to use a government-backed wallet, which seemed strange. There have been cynical comments to this announcement.
A Twitter user, @johnRE77, claims that the reason Bukele offered this incentive is to scale the Chivo app because many residents downloaded the app because of the $30 free Bitcoin attached to it.
On the other hand, the likes of @MNabiortiz are grateful for this subsidy, as it allows them to save money on fuel.
