El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption hit by an easy money-making loophole

El Salvador recently became the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender, but traders have been exploiting the state issued bitcoin “wallet app” to make a quick profit

By Luke Taylor

El Salvador’s move to become the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal tender on 9 June has been met with protests and bedevilled by fraud, market volatility and technical glitches. Now the Central American nation has had to suspend a key function in Chivo Wallet, its government-issued smartphone app used to store and exchange bitcoin, because economic traders were exploiting it to make a profit.

El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has touted bitcoin as a way …