Early stumble as El Salvador starts Bitcoin as currency

El Salvador has become the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, but the rollout stumbled in its first hours

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender Tuesday, but the rollout stumbled in its first hours and President Nayib Bukele informed that the digital wallet used for transactions was not functioning. For part of the morning, El Salvador’s president became tech support for a nation stepping into the world of cryptocurrency. Bukele marshaled his Twitter account — with more than 2.8 million followers — to walk users through what was happening. Bukele explained that the digital wallet Chivo had been disconnected while server capacity was increased. The president said it was a relatively simple problem. “We prefer to correct it before we connect it again,” Bukele said. He encouraged followers to download the app and leave comments about how it was going.