El Salvador Launches Sivar Digital Dollar App on Coinbase’s Base
El Salvador has launched Sivar, a national digital platform that combines verified identity, civic services and payments. Modveon developed the app, while Coinbase provides the payments infrastructure. Transactions settle in stablecoins on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 network. Coinbase confirmed the partnership on Sept. 29.
The platform targets El Salvador’s large remittance market. Salvadorans abroad sent roughly $9 billion home in 2025, with about 92% coming from the United States. Sivar allows eligible U.S. users to send money to verified recipients in El Salvador for a flat $2 fee.
How the digital dollar system works
Sivar uses Coinbase’s payments infrastructure across the transfer process. Users can fund transfers with a debit card, while the app provisions a non-custodial wallet for each user.
Peer-to-peer transfers use Coinbase APIs, with stablecoins settling on Base. Recipients can then cash out through more than 1,000 locations across El Salvador, according to Coinbase.
The app also uses government-linked identity verification. Sivar says Salvadoran users can verify their identity through the country’s official login system and national population registry.
A new chapter for El Salvador’s crypto strategy
The rollout comes five years after El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. Sivar instead focuses its payment infrastructure on dollar-denominated stablecoins, reducing users’ exposure to Bitcoin’s price volatility during remittance transfers.
Coinbase says more than 25,000 Salvadorans signed up for Sivar before launch. The company also described the project as Modveon’s first national deployment of its Verified Operating System.
The distinction between Bitcoin and stablecoins is significant. El Salvador can continue holding Bitcoin as a digital asset while using stablecoins for everyday cross-border payments. Sivar therefore represents a shift in the country’s payment infrastructure rather than an outright replacement of its broader digital-asset strategy.
