El Salvador Targets $9B Remittances with Stablecoin App

Sivar, developed by Modveon and announced Sept. 29, will let users in the United States fund remittances with debit cards and settle transfers in dollar-backed stablecoins on Coinbase’s Base network. The app charges a flat $2 fee per transfer.

Transactions between verified users will settle on Base. Coinbase will provide the onramp, transfer APIs and settlement infrastructure. Each user receives a non-custodial wallet embedded in the app, and recipients can convert digital balances to cash at more than 1,000 locations across El Salvador.

Coinbase reported about $9 billion flowed into El Salvador through remittances in 2025, with roughly 92% originating in the United States. The company estimated about 1.6 million Salvadorans depend on those payments. Sivar had more than 25,000 sign-ups before launch.

Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, noted: “The economics work because the transfers move entirely in digital dollars,” adding the structure avoids exposing recipients to the price swings of volatile assets.

Private firms have already built stablecoin payment options in the country. In April, MoneyGram expanded a USDC-based digital-balance service in El Salvador that lets customers hold dollar balances on blockchain rails and withdraw cash at MoneyGram locations. In 2025, Tether relocated its headquarters to El Salvador after winning authorization as a stablecoin issuer and digital-asset service provider and linked its USDT token with the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

The Salvadoran government has maintained Bitcoin in public programs while reducing public purchases. The country’s Bitcoin Office reported a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve of about 7,789 BTC and highlighted education and training initiatives. The International Monetary Fund said no public funds were used to buy Bitcoin after the first program review and that later increases in the reserve were documented as private donations.

Legal changes tied to El Salvador’s $1.4 billion IMF program removed Bitcoin’s status as mandatory legal tender, made private-sector acceptance voluntary and required taxes to be paid in U.S. dollars. The state also reduced its role in the Chivo wallet and transferred majority ownership and operations to a private operator.

Sivar and other private projects are implementing stablecoin rails to move dollar-denominated remittances over blockchain networks while preserving the U.S. dollar as the unit of account for Salvadoran households.