Western Union (WU -0.4%), MoneyGram (MGI +3.7%), and other service providers are estimated to lose $400M a year or more in remittance fees, says El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele. Approximately 70% of the country's population receives remittance payments and many El Salvadorians rely on payments from family members abroad. Collectively, $6B, or ~23% of the country's GDP, was transferred into El Salvador from outside the country. Western Union charges fees of up to 33% for online transfers, which cut into the amount customers actually receive. The government's new national bitcoin wallet provides no-fee transactions that arrive within minutes for transfers through its Chivo wallet app, which is only available to El Salvadorian citizens. The fee is only 1% for transfers from a Muun custodian wallet to Chivo. Bitcoin's price has stabilized after an almost 10% drop after the cryptocurrency officially became legal tender in El Salvador on Tuesday.
