Why haven’t we thought of measuring Chivo and Bitcoin’s adoption in this way? Cero anecdotal evidence. Only facts, figures and reports from anywhere we can get them. What do we know about the Lightning node in Chivo Wallet? What apps do Salvadorans use besides the government wallet? Are they happy with them? Investor and blogger Kevin Rock has New shot of Bitcoin in El Salvador Adoption and we are here to summarize it.
“I wanted a deeper understanding of how real people in El Salvador interact with Bitcoin, so I set out to find other success metrics.”
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but since”Private Lightning Network by design,‘It’s hard to measure accurately’The volumes of payments and the flow of funds between different wallets and exchanges.“So what did Kevin Rock do? He searched everywhere else for hard data on Chivo and Bitcoin adoption. Let’s explore what he found.
BTC price chart for 09/24/2021 on Exmo | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
Chivo ecosystem is growing rapidly
To gauge Chivo wallet adoption, Rooke used official information provided by President Bukele. It’s not perfect, but it’s not rare either. It’s easier to get information about the Chivo Lightning node because you can Check all general information here. But hey, why is the Salvadoran government running a lightning knot?
“Just like any other participant in the Bitcoin Lightning Network, Chivo manages a Lightning node. Since Chivo is a custody wallet, all Lightning payments that Chivo users send to and from other Lightning wallets will transfer liquidity to and from the Chivo node.”
Through these sources, what did the author discover about the Chivo ecosystem?
- at the moment, “The Chivo node has 12.7 BTC of public capacity. Which is 1,269,941,898 seated.
- Chivo knotIt ranks 83rd among general lightning nodes.”
- At the time of writing, it is linked to 58 other channels, but this number changes daily.
- Returning to the iOS App Store and Google Play Store, the Chivo Wallet remains at the top of the popularity list,”Beat all the most popular social media apps like WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram.“
- I bet you didn’t think of this,”With over 1.6 million users in just two weeks, Chivo is probably the most popular Lightning Network app in the world today.“
What about other Bitcoin apps? Are they popular in El Salvador?
Well, it was granted. The government of El Salvador incentivizes downloading the Chivo wallet app with $30. This should move the needle. However, when it comes to all the other Bitcoin applications, there is no such incentive. How do they measure other financial applications?
El Salvador's most popular apps for September 2021 | Source: Kevin Rooke
This graph says it all:
- “Salvadorans are already showing a strong preference for Bitcoin applications over banking and remittance applications on a national scale, as shown in the drawing.
- To put it in numbers,9 and 13 of the top 20 apps in the respective app stores“It’s Bitcoin applications. Chevu is in first place.
- “Most banks and payment processors in El Salvador have 2-4 star user ratingsThis is the traditional banking system for you.
- On the other hand, “Bitcoin related apps have user ratings of 3-5 stars.Although it is still early days, the facts are the facts. It’s worth noting that the Chivo app is on the lower end of this spectrum.
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Besides, Kevin Rock has identified a fact that may be obvious to some, but it must be said:
“The millions of Salvadorans who have already joined the Lightning Network are not Silicon Valley geeks or early tech enthusiasts. They are ordinary people who make a conscious choice to use the Lightning Network because it saves them time and money.”
And they don’t have to use the Chivo ecosystem if they don’t want to. This is a fact.
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