On September 29, 2026, the Government of El Salvador and Palo Alto startup Modveon announced the national launch of Sivar — a community-plus-payments app under a five-year agreement with Salvadoran public institution AAB. Modveon develops, operates, and expands the stack; Coinbase powers the payments rails. Desk coverage lines up across the Business Wire release via Financial Post, the FinancialContent wire, CryptoBriefing, Cryptopolitan, and CryptoSlate.
Five years after Bitcoin became legal tender partly to cut remittance pain, the money-home product ships dollar-stablecoin settlement on Base at a flat $2. Same-week color only: this is not jamoraquai’s Sep 29 Citi–Coinbase Virtual Accounts / Spring merchant pack — that was US bank BaaS and checkout rails; today is a national consumer remittance UX for the US–El Salvador corridor.
$2 Flat Fee, Coinbase Onramp, Stablecoins on Base
Eligible U.S. residents can send money to verified Sivar recipients in El Salvador for a flat $2 fee regardless of amount. Funding runs through Coinbase Onramp from a U.S. bank account or debit card. Transfers settle in a stablecoin on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 — the Business Wire language. Prefer that phrasing here; CryptoBriefing’s coverage also frames the transfers as settling in stablecoins on Base.
“Salvadorans send billions of dollars home every year, and too much of it disappears into fees. Bringing that cost down to a flat fee, settled in seconds, is exactly what modern payment rails were supposed to do. The economics work because the money moves digitally end to end, and that’s how every cross-border payment should work,” Faryar Shirzad, Chief Policy Officer of Coinbase, said in the Business Wire release.
“Base is built to power payments at global scale. It’s inspiring to see a whole country like El Salvador build their payments future on onchain,” Jesse Pollak, Creator of Base, said in the same release. “This requires dependable throughput, fast-settlement, and low cost — all areas where Base delivers at scale today.”
Identity First: DUI Verification and Community OS
Sivar is framed as an identity-first “Verified Operating System” — community, institutions, and payments in one place. Salvadoran users verify with their national ID (DUI). Verified users can post, join live conversations, vote in polls, and send funds. Official announcements sit apart from member posts; megathreads and town halls are part of the civic surface.
“This is a step toward a more personal digital experience designed to meet the needs of Salvadorans, wherever they may be,” Adriana Mira, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of El Salvador, said in the Business Wire release.
Nana Murugesan, CEO and Co-Founder of Modveon, put the product bet in plain language in the same release: community, communication, and money belong together, and the practical start is letting U.S. residents send money to people in El Salvador for a flat two dollars, no matter how much they send. Modveon was founded in 2025, raised a $10 million seed (investors named in the wire include Coinbase Ventures, Firebolt, Humla, Strategic Cyber Ventures, AAB, and Pulse Fund), and Coinbase is both payments partner and — via Coinbase Ventures — an investor. Attribute that dual role as the wire does; the government does not run the remittance stack.
Corridor Scale Claims and Secondary Cash-Out Color
Company / Coinbase framing in the wire and secondary outlets: Salvadorans abroad sent roughly $9 billion home in 2025, about 92% from the United States, with nearly 1.6 million Salvadorans in receiving households. Pre-launch refinement involved more than 25,000 Salvadorans. Cite those figures as company framing, not an independent census.
Secondary outlets add operational color not in the short Business Wire lede: CryptoSlate and Cryptopolitan report recipients can convert balances to cash at more than 1,000 locations across El Salvador, with non-custodial wallets inside the app. Attribute that path to those outlets / Coinbase framing.
CryptoBriefing notes the launch lands five years after Bitcoin legal tender, with remittances via crypto wallets still low (~1.75% per IMF framing in that coverage) and public BTC accumulation constrained under a $1.4 billion IMF program. Reserve figures vary by outlet. Color only — reserve and education remain; the payments product is what shifted.
Jamoraquai Take
Five years after making Bitcoin legal tender to cut remittance pain, El Salvador’s national app ships dollar-stablecoin rails on Base at a flat two bucks — identity and community up front, volatility off the payment path. The reserve can stay Bitcoin; the money-home product is telling you which asset people will actually press send on.
Modveon operates under the AAB agreement; Coinbase powers Onramp and Base settlement. Flat $2 for eligible U.S. senders to verified recipients. $9B / 92% / 1.6M / 25k are company claims. Cash-out at 1,000+ locations and non-custodial wallets are secondary-outlet framing. None of this is a buy, sell, or hold on COIN, BTC, or any dollar-pegged token.
Sources: Financial Post (Business Wire) · FinancialContent wire · CryptoBriefing · Cryptopolitan · CryptoSlate
