Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in El Salvador, angry at the introduction of Bitcoin as the country’s legal tender

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele remains hopeful that Bitcoin will help the people of his nation that are currently working abroad, transfer money back home.

Protesters however feel the cryptocurrency will bring instability and inflation to the Latin American nation.

During the protests on Thursday demonstrators could be seen setting fire to a brand-new Bitcoin machine, while others spray painted some shop windows.

As of last week, El Salvador officially became the first country to allow the digital currency to be used as legal tender, alongside the US dollar.

The demonstrators, gathered in the capital San Salvador on the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence, brandishing placards reading “No to Bitcoin” and “Respect the Constitution”.

Protesters have accused President Bukele of abusing his authoritative power by allowing Bitcoin to become the country’s legal tender.

A fake Walmart news release claiming the retail giant would soon accept cryptocurrency has send the digital coin sector into a frenzy

Cryptocurrency Litecoin saw a sudden surge on Monday over the press release, which turned out to be fake.

The release, published through a legitimate press channel, claimed that Walmart would accept the currency through all of the company’s digital stores.

Walmart later told US media outlets the announcement was “inauthentic”

By the time Walmart confirmed that the news release was fake, several major news websites and press agencies had spread the supposed news.

The announcement made it on to Globe Newswire, a service widely used to distribute press material from companies.

The faked release has since been deleted, and did not appear on Walmart’s own website.

A tweet from a verified Litecoin Twitter account linking to the release has also been deleted.

Hours later, the Litecoin Foundation tweeted to confirm that the organisation had no such partnership:

Bitcoin plunged as much as 17 per cent to its lowest level in a month as El Salvador’s crypto rollout got off to a rocky start

The largest cryptocurrency fell as low as $43,050 in New York on Tuesday, plunging more than 10 per cent over an hour, before recovering about half the losses.

The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index, which tracks some of the largest digital tokens, lost as much as 19 per cent at one point. 

El Salvador has become the first country to accept Bitcoin everywhere

The drop comes as Bitcoin faces one of its biggest test in its 12-year history as El Salvador became the first country to adopt it as legal tender

You can now pay for a burger using bitcoin, as businesses across the nation are advised to accept the digital coins as payment 

The Central American nation’s president, Nayib Bukele, said on Twitter that the digital wallet being used in the project can now be downloaded after it was shut down earlier because of technical glitches.  

The wallet, known as Chivo, comes pre-loaded with $30 worth of the currency for users who register with a Salvadoran national ID number

Millions of people are expected to download the government’s new digital wallet app.

More than 200 new cash machines are being installed across the country to enable dollars to be converted into Bitcoin.