Stock Groups

El Salvador Hires AlphaPoint to Fix Bitcoin Digital Wallet Bugs -Breaking

[ad_1]

© Bloomberg. Customer uses the Chivo Bitcoin automated bank teller at Cascadas in San Salvador.

(Bloomberg) —

El Salvador’s wallet, Chivo, is taking steps to improve security and eliminate transaction issues that had initially angered users and caused gripes to pile up against the application.

Local watchdogs filed thousands of complaints against this company. These range from fraudulent identities to transactions that didn’t credit their accounts with money. Other cases saw transactions take up to hours and leave customers and merchants unsure if they were approved.  

AlphaPoint from New York was hired by Chivo S.A. de CV to address this issue and run the technology powering the wallet. 

AlphaPoint was founded in 2013 and has served 150 clients, including startups as well as state-owned banks in more than 35 countries. CEO Igor Telyatnikov said that the company’s customers range from start-ups to large corporations. It says that clients include CME Group (NASDAQ :), Scotiabank, Royal Bank of Canada and Royal Mint. Telyatnikov claimed that Chivo began work with the company in December. His plan is to bring the company’s experience working in regulated jurisdictions and building high-frequency trading systems to El Salvador. 

“Users just have smoother experiences, there are less issues with transactions and any transaction that has issues, there are tools by which to research, remediate and follow up,” he said in an interview. “The percentage of transactions that has any sort of issue has sharply decreased in orders of magnitude.” 

Chivo was launched in September 7, when Bitcoin became legal tender for El Salvador along with the U.S. dollars. To register, you will need a Salvadoran ID Number. The preloaded $30 Bitcoin is included. Since it was made available to download, the price of Bitcoin has fallen by approximately 14%. 

Read more: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Speculators Are Stifled in Chivo Crackdown

Telyatnikov said Alphapoint has implemented security features such as facial and fingerprint recognition and has improved the wallet’s integration into the Lightning Network, improving transaction processing and allowing Chivo to scale up. He said the company’s technology also provides more feedback to users on whether a transaction was successful, and in failed transactions, credits money back to the wallet immediately instead of leaving it pending as in previous cases.  

According to him, the company has many employees. It also offers 24/7 call centre support through offices in Asia. 

“The government, or Chivo, operates the wallet and has their own teams, but those teams are only as good as the teams they have available to reconcile transactions if a report is made,” Telyatnikov said. 

El Salvador purchased 1,801 digital coins since Bitcin became legal tender. Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said last week that more than 4 million people are using the Chivo wallet and the nation’s embrace of cryptocurrency has helped attract foreign investment. 

Telyatnikov said El Salvador is becoming AlphaPoint’s hub for Latin America operations and the company is currently hiring in the Central American nation. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Disclaimer: Fusion MediaThis website does not provide accurate and current data. CFDs are stocks, indexes or futures. The prices of Forex and CFDs are not supplied by exchanges. They are instead provided by market makers. As such, the prices might not reflect market values and could be incorrect. Fusion Media does not accept any liability for trade losses caused by the data.

Fusion MediaFusion Media or any other person involved in the website will not be held responsible for loss or damages resulting from reliance on data including charts, buy/sell signals, and quotes. Trading the financial markets is one of most risky investment options. Please make sure you are fully aware about the costs and risks involved.

[ad_2]