El Salvador, the first country to make Bitcoin (BTC), a legal tender, has onboarded 4 million users for its government-backed BTC wallet, Chivo, in partnership with digital identity provider Netki, according to an announcement.

Netki has announced that the Chivo wallet onboarded more than 4 million new users in 45 days using the company's flagship Know Your Customer (KYC)/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) product, OnboardID. The platform also claimed to have facilitated the compatible onboarding of 70% of the country's previously unbanked population.

El Salvador passed the Bitcoin bill in june last year and officially made Bitcoin legal tender in september. Nayib Bukele, President of the small Central American nation, made it clear that the goal was to offer digital banking to more than 70% of the country's unbanked population. To promote cryptocurrency use and ease of transactions, the government launched a national crypto wallet called Chivo and a US$30 airdrop in Bitcoin.

Leading financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), shared drastic forecasts and warned El Salvador of unwarranted economic consequences. However, President Bukele continued to promote the use of Bitcoin in the country and rebuked all the scaremongering. After the IMF rejected $1 billion in financial aid, the government of El Salvador launched a Bitcoin volcano bond as advised by Bitcoin proponent Max Keizer.

Earlier today, President Bukele also responded to the recent downgrade of El Salvador's sovereign debt by Moody's and said, "LAST TIME: EL SALVADOR DGAF".