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El Salvador’s government has partnered with Modveon, a Palo Alto-based startup backed by Coinbase Ventures, to launch Sivar, a national digital platform designed to connect Salvadorans with verified communities, businesses and public institutions while providing cross-border payment services.
Under a five-year agreement with Salvadoran public institution AAB, Modveon will operate and expand Sivar and its digital services, the company said Tuesday.
Founded in 2025, Modveon is developing an identity-first digital infrastructure platform for governments and citizens, backed by $10 million in seed funding in February. In addition to Coinbase Ventures, the seed round was joined by Firebolt Ventures, Humla Ventures and Strategic Cyber Ventures, along with other investors and angels.
Sivar is built around Modveon’s Verified Operating System, which combines verified identity, trusted connections, communities, payments and AI-powered services.
Salvadoran users can verify their accounts using their national identity card, join communities based on geography or interests, follow official government announcements and participate in live discussions and town halls, the company stated.
Sivar also offers a $2 flat fee for eligible US residents sending money to verified recipients in El Salvador, regardless of the transfer amount. The service is integrated with Coinbase, with users able to fund transfers through Coinbase Onramp from US bank accounts or debit cards. The transfers settle in stablecoins on Base.
The company said Sivar was refined through a pre-launch rollout involving more than 25,000 Salvadorans.
The launch came five years after El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender, becoming the first country to do so under President Nayib Bukele.
The government also accumulated a sizable Bitcoin reserve, but the strategy faced tighter limits after El Salvador agreed to a $1.4 billion IMF program in 2025. The agreement curtailed government participation in Bitcoin transactions and purchases, and the IMF said in a recent statement that no public resources had been used to acquire Bitcoin and that further accumulation was not expected beyond documented private donations.
But even before the IMF deal imposed new restrictions, Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador had not shown meaningful progress. The IMF reported that only about 1.75% of remittances were transferred through crypto wallets, stubbornly low since the legal tender law took effect.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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