Early stumble as El Salvador starts Bitcoin as currency

By MARCOS ALEMAN
Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador has become the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, but the rollout stumbled in its first hours. President Nayib Bukele said the digital wallet used for transactions was not functioning. For part of Tuesday morning, El Salvador’s president became tech support for a nation stepping into the world of cryptocurrency. Bukele marshaled his Twitter account  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. Bukele says, “We prefer to correct it before we connect it again.”