Linguard Labs acquired a majority stake in Chivo, the state wallet launched under the 2021 bitcoin law, in a deal the parties say is consistent with El Salvador's IMF program. The government keeps a stake; no price was disclosed.
October 9, 2026
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The app that symbolized El Salvador's bitcoin experiment has a new controlling owner and a different sales pitch.
The government of El Salvador and Linguard Labs said on Friday that Linguard has acquired a majority stake in Chivo, the state-backed digital wallet. The government remains a shareholder. "The transaction is consistent with El Salvador's International Monetary Fund program," the parties said. Terms were not disclosed.
What changes
Chivo has more than 4.5 million registered accounts, the companies said, and existing users keep their accounts and balances. The relaunched app will offer free money transfers from the United States to El Salvador for its "Regular" users, microloans and cash advances underwritten on what users earn, send and pay through the app, merchant financing and debit cards.
Payments at participating merchants will be possible "in Bitcoin, dollars, stablecoins, or other supported digital assets," with cash back on purchases.
The remittance market
The center of the new Chivo is money sent home. Salvadorans abroad sent almost $10 billion home in 2025, the companies said, and paid fees on nearly every dollar.
"Cheaper remittance fees are not a win. Free is," said Drew Weinstein, Linguard's founder and chief executive. Linguard says its leadership includes former executives of Visa, JPMorgan Chase and Citi.
The bitcoin question
Chivo was launched in 2021 when El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender, and the government promoted it as the main way for citizens to use the currency. Under its IMF lending program, El Salvador has since narrowed its bitcoin policy.
The new ownership does not remove bitcoin from the app; payments in bitcoin remain an option. But the product is now led by dollar remittances and credit, and registered accounts are not the same as active ones.
Two views
On one view, this is the state stepping back from crypto. A government wallet built around bitcoin has been handed to a private operator under the terms of an IMF program, and its new focus is dollars.
On another, private management could revive an app that the state struggled to make popular. Free remittances and credit are concrete reasons to use it, and bitcoin and stablecoin payments ride along, possibly reaching more users than before.
What to watch
The relaunch date, the fee and eligibility terms for free transfers, the number of active users and the share of payments made in bitcoin will show what the new Chivo becomes. Future IMF program reviews will show whether El Salvador's bitcoin policy narrows further.