Key facts:
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One user reported that the government wallet in El Salvador temporarily blocked their funds.
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The Chivo Wallet team said the funds were frozen due to anti-money laundering regulations.
A bitter pill passed by Bitcoiner Luke Mikic and his girlfriend, the El Salvadoran government-created Bitcoin (BTC) wallet, Chivo Wallet, temporarily froze about $1,000.
In a message posted to X – formerly Twitter -, Bitcoin ecosystem enthusiast and content creator deplore What he described as a “theft” of the Salvadoran wallet. claimed it They locked bitcoins on the platform “for no reason”. He was even afraid of not getting his money back.
Because of this situation, Mikic, who lived in El Salvador for six months, sought help from the community in the Central American country, which echoed the user’s complaint on the social network and make it viral.
The impact of the bitcoin complaint was so great that just three hours later, Mikich reported through X that the issue had been resolved and that His partner’s funds were unfrozen. He later clarified that, according to Chivo Wallet, the funds were held “due to anti-money laundering regulations.”
In this sense, and given his close experience, Luke Mikic mentions the wisdom of bitcoins what does he say “If it’s not your keys, it’s not your bitcoins.” This, while respecting the issue of self-blocking, which specifically prevents blocking or freezing of funds by brokers.
“Only use escrow services for amounts of bitcoin that are okay to lose,” Micic said, and emphasized, despite the experience, that “Chivo Wallet is still doing great in El Salvador.”
CriptoNoticias attempted to contact Luke Mikic for this story, but received no response. Chivo Wallet also did not respond to a request for comment.
The complaints against Chivo Wallet have a long history
The complaint filed by Mikic regarding the banning of bitcoins has been added to many others, since the launch of Chivo Wallet, The image of the government tool was tarnished Created in the first country in the world to legally adopt BTC.
In 2021, complaints against Chivo Wallet started. At that time, it was already reported that the funds were frozen. Then the demands permeated the disappearance of assets and even identity theft Using the government platform to commit fraud, fact being investigated.
These issues are compounded by the fact that Chivo Wallet has the ability to censor transactions it deems risky, particularly those coming from mixers. All this means that Salvadorans hardly ever use this wallet.
The latter, in line with what was expressed by the new economic advisor of the Bitcoin office in El Salvador, Sevidan Amos, who confirmed that Salvadorans are not obligated to use the Chivo Wallet.
