invezz.com
Volaris El Salvador, a subsidiary of Mexican budget airline Volaris, is set to start accepting Bitcoin (BTC/USD) as payment for air tickets. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, disclosed this news through a tweet earlier today. According to him, this development will offer Salvadorans a low-cost airline that accepts BTC.
Ya tenemos aerolínea salvadoreña, de bajo costo y que acepta #Bitcoin
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) October 20, 2021
🌋🛫🇸🇻 @viajaVolaris pic.twitter.com/mMqzxtOYhA
According to him, Volaris El Salvador’s ability to accept payments in BTC will help the government increase flight offerings for Salvadorans.
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However, the president’s tweet met a lot of criticism, with a Twitter user going by @Jiraiya_elsabio pointing out that the state-run Chivo wallet has not worked for a day. The user added that the wallet’s downtime has seen people lose money because they cannot convert BTC to fiat and vice versa. The concerned citizen urged Bukele to focus on fixing the current issue before his BTC project loses credibility.
Pues la @chivowallet ya lleva un día que no funciona, y es dinero que la gente está perdiendo porque aún no se puede hacer conversiónes. Arreglen eso, pierde credibilidad la chivo
— Ero Sennin (@Jiraiya_elsabio) October 20, 2021
Another user ridiculed the president’s announcement, saying,
But I hope that the airplanes do work and do not fall like the Chivo.
This news comes after Salvadoran aviation authorities gave Volaris the go-ahead to operate in the country a month ago.
Increasing efforts to make Salvadorans warm up to crypto as resistance mounts
Before this, Bukele announced that the Salvadoran government had slashed off $0.20 (£0.15) per gallon of gas for citizens that pay in BTC. According to him, the government offered this subsidy after the state company Chivo negotiated with leading gas stations.
However, the government still met resistance, with citizens asking why the subsidy was only available for those that pay through the Chivo wallet. Other citizens considered this subsidy partial, seeing as the government would use taxes from Salvadorans that don’t own vehicles to maintain the offering.
🤔🤔 Esos 20 centavos, saldrán de todos nosotros cierto? La Gasolinera no pierde, ahí va el reintegro después pagado con impuestos de incluso los que andamos a pie
— Swap (@Adan_3840) September 30, 2021
Apart from lowering fuel prices, the government also reinvested $4 million (£2.91 million) worth of BTC gains to finance the development of infrastructure like a veterinary hospital. According to Bukele, these funds did not reduce the number of BTC that the country owns, seeing as BTC surged after it purchased three dips.
Por lo tanto, la empresa estatal Chivo puede disponer de 4 millones de dólares, sin afectar el monto del fideicomiso.
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) October 10, 2021
Esto se hace manteniendo la misma cantidad de #BTC, aunque se reduzca la cantidad de USD.
Por lo que podemos invertir 4 millones de dólares en algún proyecto.
El Salvador currently owns 700 BTC, which it bought when BTC was trading below $50,000.00 (£36,314.25). At the time of writing, the flagship cryptocurrency is changing hands at $64,212.57 (£46,638.55) after gaining 3.24% in 24 hours and 16.32% over the past seven days. This value means BTC is down less than 1.2% from its April 14 ATH of $64,863.10 (£47,109.10).