Hacker News Reader

Is the "Chivo Wallet" an actual lightning wallet?

I have not found any confirmations so far, that People in El Salvador are actually using Bitcoin. For all I know it could be Government fiat that is denominated in Bitcoin.

Does anybody here know more about it?

View on HN

There’s been a few articles on it.

Chivo -> Chivo transfers are not done with Lightning, or ok the blockchain itself. Govt is not obliged to back the amount of “Bitcoin” in all the wallets by any specific amount.

There are, I believe, gateways to both LN and the BTC blockchain itself. So you can transfer funds to/from Chivo with a real Bitcoin transaction. But sending to another Chivo user is just handled by Chivo centrally.

Yes, you can send funds from Chivo wallet to any bitcoin wallet (or the other way around)

Ok, but the same would hold true for any exchange app. But that does not make it a lightning app. The coins would be held by the exchange and the app only displays your balance.

It’s precisely like that.

If you're going to centralize the keys, why bother with Bitcoin? Isn't the whole point that you're insulated against untrustworthy governments? It's kind of sounding like decaf coffee ..

So the Chiva Wallet is not a lightning app?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com