Protests inflamed as Bitcoin fell 20% on day one of El Salvador considering it a "legal tender"

Massive protests, technological failures and a setback occurred on the first day of El Salvador that Bitcoin was considered a legal tender. The price of Bitcoin on Tuesday fell to its lowest in almost a month, falling from $ 52,000 (£ 37,730) to below $ 43,000 at one point.

An opposition politician said the event cost one of the poorest countries in Latin America $3 million.

The rollout of Bitcoin in El Salvador was far from what President Nayib Bukele had in mind when he began his bold experiment.

Platforms like Apple and Huawei do not offer the state-supported digital wallet, known as Chivo, and the servers have to be pulled offline after they cannot keep up with the user registrations. But, as the day passed, McDonald's and Starbuck started accepting Chivo.

The government has even given Salvadorans $30 each of Bitcoin to encourage its adoption. It says Bitcoin can save the country $400m a year in transaction money sent to funds sent from abroad.

However, with data from the World Bank and the government, the BBC calculates this closer to $ 170m.

"We must break the paradigm of the past," tweeted President Bukele. "El Salvador has the right to enter the first world."

Ed Hernandez runs a family store in San Salvador where customers buy essentials like rice, beans and cleaning products. He is good and really on board.

"During the pandemic, it will be nice not to use physical cash," he told the BBC, adding that it protects him from customers who pay with counterfeit notes.

What was not good timing for El Salvador, however, was the tumble Bitcoin took its first day as a legal tender, falling 20% ​​to one point.

"It was a very bad day for President Bukele, his government and his Bitcoin experiment," opposition politician Johnny Wright Sol told the BBC.

"The majority of the population knows very little about cryptocurrencies. What we do know is that it is a very volatile market. Today, this has certainly been manifested."

Mr Wright Sol said Bitcoin was not an appropriate national currency and was adamant: "The Bitcoin law was approved in Parliament with little debate. It only took about five hours.

"We are not a crypto-currency or Bitcoin-hater, but we do not believe that it should be mandatory for businesses to be obligated to accept Bitcoin and payment.

"The state supports these payments and takes the risk but at the end of the day we are taxpayers all over the state."