Remittances received in El Salvador via cryptocurrency wallets amounted to $51.98 million

Remittances received by El Salvador between January and May 2022 rose 3.9%, compared to the same period in 2021, to $3,145.9 million, according to Central Reserve Bank (BCR) data revised Wednesday by Efe.

Financial institution data indicate that family remittances, sent primarily from Salvadorans residing in the United States, exceeded 3,028 million received during the same months in 2021 by 117.9 million.

Remittances received through crypto wallets amounted to $51.98 million in these five months, which is 1.65% of the total of these coins received in 2022.

Higher interest rates in the United States will reduce the sending of remittances to El Salvador

BCR does not say whether these transfers were transferred directly in cryptocurrencies or dollars, nor the amount transferred through the government’s digital wallet, called “Chivo Wallet”, as this information was kept confidential.

This data coincides with the fact that the residents of El Salvador have not adopted the use of bitcoin as the government expected, despite the fact that the cryptocurrency has been introduced as legal tender since September 7, 2021.

In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal currency, along with the US dollar.

Of every $100 in transfers, only $2 comes through e-wallets

The BCR report indicates that 93.9% of remittances came from the United States, where millions of Salvadorans live, followed by Canada, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, with rates ranging between 0.9% and 0.1% of the total.

Data from the 2019 Multipurpose Household Survey (EHPM) published by the Ministry of Economy in 2020 indicates that 1.63 million Salvadorans benefit from remittances.

A total of 471,633 families receive these coins, of which 13,530 are in extreme poverty and 68,874 in relative poverty.