El Salvador’s government and the startup Modveon launched Sivar, a national app that charges U.S. residents a flat $2 to send any amount of money to people in El Salvador who have verified their identity. The money moves as a stablecoin on Base, Coinbase’s blockchain.

The government and Modveon announced the national launch on Tuesday. Modveon signed a five-year agreement with AAB, a Salvadoran public institution whose full name is the Agencia Administradora de Fondos Bitcoin, or Bitcoin Fund Management Agency. The contract, which took effect this month, puts Modveon in charge of developing the app and running it day to day.

AAB is also one of Modveon’s investors, according to the release. The Palo Alto company has raised $10 million, a round it first announced in February, from backers that also include Coinbase Ventures and Firebolt Ventures.

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How the Money Moves

Coinbase said its infrastructure handles Sivar’s payments from start to finish. Senders in the U.S. fund a transfer through Coinbase Onramp, every user gets a non-custodial wallet inside the app, and recipients can withdraw cash at more than 1,000 locations across El Salvador. The app keeps the crypto out of view, according to Coinbase.

Remittances to El Salvador came to about $9 billion last year, and roughly 92% of that money came from the U.S., the release said.

“Salvadorans send billions of dollars home every year, and too much of it disappears into fees,” Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, said in the company’s blog post.

Payments are one part of the app. Salvadoran users verify their accounts with the national identity card, known as the DUI, and can then post, join local communities organized down to the district level and vote in polls. More than 25,000 Salvadorans used Sivar during a phased rollout before the launch, Modveon said. Bill payments, merchant payments and payments between citizens and the government are planned, depending on product, partner and regulatory availability.

From Bitcoin Law to Stablecoin Rails

El Salvador made bitcoin legal tender in 2021 and launched Chivo, a government-sponsored bitcoin wallet. In early 2025, lawmakers amended the Bitcoin Law to make accepting bitcoin voluntary for businesses, a condition of a $1.4 billion loan deal with the IMF, which also said the government’s role in Chivo would be gradually wound down.

Stablecoin remittance services have drawn big checks this year. Félix, a WhatsApp-based remittance service for Latinos in the U.S., raised $200 million in equity and credit in September. Andreessen Horowitz led the equity portion.

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