Key Takeaways
- El Salvador added 7 BTC over the past week, pushing its national reserves to 7,798 BTC, worth over $640M.
- Bukele’s 1-BTC-a-day strategy defies a recent $1.4B IMF waiver expecting a halt to direct state purchases.
- Unidentified private donations allegedly fund these additions, obscuring El Salvador’s financial exposure.
El Salvador Keeps Adding Bitcoin Despite IMF’s Warnings
El Salvador appears adamant about continuing its bitcoin addition strategy, even if that directly contradicts its commitment to the IMF.
Reports from the official page of the national Bitcoin Office, established in 2022 to manage the country’s bitcoin strategy, show that the country added 7 BTC in the last seven days, bringing its holdings to 7,798 BTC, valued at over $643 million at the time of writing.
This means the government has not suspended its BTC accumulation, instead advancing its one-bitcoin-a-day strategy promoted by President Nayib Bukele, who vowed to keep stacking bitcoin until it became “unaffordable” with fiat currencies.
These additions come a week after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a waiver on the behavior of the Salvadoran public sector and its involvement with crypto purchases, declaring that while the performance criteria in this aspect were not met, it was granted based on strong corrective measures and renewed commitments.
The IMF required the gradual unwinding of El Salvador’s bitcoin policies to extend a $1.4 billion extended fund facility in February 2025. At the time, Nigel Clarke, IMF’s deputy managing director and acting chair, stressed that program commitments would “confine government engagement in Bitcoin-related economic activities, as well as government transactions in and purchases of Bitcoin.”
This prompted a transition in how bitcoin was being used in the country, shifting from having a legal tender status to voluntary use. It also encompassed the recent transfer of Chivo Wallet’s majority ownership to a private operator, a measure qualified by the fund as a “welcome step.”
After the latest review of the country’s adherence to the IMF program, the fund stressed that the state’s involvement in bitcoin activities “is being unwound.” Dan Katz, the IMF’s first deputy managing director and chair, directly declared that “no further bitcoin accumulation is expected beyond documented donations.”
Nonetheless, El Salvador has continued to add BTC to its stash daily, likely from a mystery donor that has still not been identified publicly. Whether this will continue for the foreseeable future or stop in compliance with the IMF’s requirements remains to be seen.
