Heavy Tax On Cryptocurrency Better Than Outright Restriction: Crypto Firm Founders

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AlphaPoint co-founders Igor Telyatnikov and Vadim Telyatnikov shared views on cryptocurrency trends

El Salvador created history on September 7 last year, when it became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender. However, the sailing hasn't been smooth for the Central American nation. Frequent tech glitches, a large population unfamiliar with Bitcoin's usage, protests by citizens and an ongoing energy crisis made international observers to call El Salvador's “libertarian” experiment a failure. The situation reached its climax when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged El Salvador to drop Bitcoin as a legal tender, citing risks to financial stability.  

Since day one, frequent glitches in the ‘Chivo' wallet – from bugs to blocked accounts and unauthorized charges to failed transactions – began to act as a major roadblock for the larger adoption of Bitcoin. ‘Chivo' wallet is the national app for using bitcoin in El Salvador.

Now, as a corrective measure, the Nayib Bukele government of El Salvador has appointed AlphaPoint, a multinational crypto software firm, to support the frontend and backend infrastructure of ‘Chivo' wallet. As per the official press release, AlphaPoint will handle the “entire ecosystem including the mobile application, mobile point-of-sale processing, merchant website portal, call center support software and administrative console”.

In an email interview, AlphaPoint co-founders Igor Telyatnikov and Vadim Telyatnikov – they are brothers – shared their perspective on the El Salvador project, the future of cryptocurrencies, central banks-backed digital currencies and India's tryst with cryptocurrency.  

Your company will manage the new backend for the ‘Chivo' wallet. What are the challenges and