AlphaPoint and Chivo partner on biometrics-enabled national Bitcoin wallet for El Salvador

National crypto wallet Chivo and the El Salvador government have partnered with white label exchange infrastructure provider AlphaPoint for services including biometric authentication.

The country adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender in September 2021, and launched the Chivo wallet to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.

A number of companies and government institutions in El Salvador already accept Bitcoin with Chivo as a form of payment, and a number of Bitcoin ATMs are being deployed across the country.

To support the shift toward wider cryptocurrency adoption, the Salvadoran government and Chivo have now partnered with AlphaPoint, which will support the frontend and backend infrastructure behind the wallet.

This includes the Chivo mobile application, the mobile point-of-sale processing devices, the merchant website portal, the call-center support software, and various administrative consoles.

“El Salvador and President Bukele are truly leading globally with the first major adoption of Bitcoin at a country-wide level,” says Igor Telyatnikov, Co-founder and CEO of AlphaPoint. “No one else has attempted to execute a project of this size.”

The integration reportedly focuses on wallet stability and uptime, scalability, and social impact. It also improves user verification capabilities by introducing a face biometrics option.

Additionally, AlphaPoint improved the wallet’s Lightning integration for nearly instantaneous low-fee Bitcoin transactions via QR codes and Lightning addresses.

“We at AlphaPoint are honored to be involved in the process and provide the scalable and reliable solutions needed for this massive undertaking,” Telyatnikov adds.

“The Chivo application is currently supporting millions of Salvadorans, many for their first time accessing financial services.”

This is not the first time AlphaPoint has supported the deployment of national projects with its technology. In 2019, the company was one of eight firms selected to participate in the UK’s Global Financial Innovation Network’s cross-border regulatory sandbox.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Chivo  |  cryptocurrency  |  digital wallets  |  El Salvador  |  face biometrics  |  facial authentication  |  identity verification  |  mobile app  |  secure transactions