El Salvador hasn’t bought Bitcoin since signing loan deal, IMF says

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a study connected Tuesday astir its ongoing indebtedness statement with El Salvador, claiming that the Central American state has not bought immoderate caller Bitcoin (BTC) since signing the statement successful December 2024.

El Salvador’s Chivo Bitcoin wallet “does not set its Bitcoin reserves to bespeak changes successful clients’ Bitcoin deposits,” the report read. Chivo doesn’t merchantability its BTC, starring to “minor” discrepancies that made it look arsenic if El Salvador’s nationalist assemblage was accumulating BTC. 

A missive of intent signed by El Salvador’s cardinal slope president, Douglas Pablo Rodríguez Fuentes, and curate of finance, Jerson Rogelio Posada Molina, contained wrong the IMF report, confirmed the details:

“In enactment with commitments nether the program, the banal of Bitcoins held by the nationalist assemblage remains unchanged, and we are taking steps to mitigate fiscal risks by reducing the nationalist sector’s relation successful the Chivo wallet and reframing the Bitcoin project.”

Cointelegraph reached retired to El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office and the National Commission of Digital Assets but hadn’t received a effect by clip of publication.

Related: Pakistan’s crypto minister, El Salvador’s president sermon Bitcoin strategy

A missive of intent confirming that El Salvador’s nationalist BTC holdings person gone unchanged. Source: IMF

El Salvador strikes indebtedness woody with IMF

The authorities of El Salvador signed a $1.4 cardinal indebtedness deal with the IMF successful December 2024 and agreed to standard backmost its engagement successful Bitcoin nether the indebtedness offer.

In January 2025, El Salvador’s legislature revised the Bitcoin laws, making acceptance of BTC arsenic ineligible tender voluntary, portion besides agreeing to halt accumulating BTC utilizing payer money.

Despite this, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office continued to assertion the authorities was steadily accumulating BTC, flying successful the look of the IMF deal.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office claims to beryllium stacking Bitcoin each day. Source: El Salvador Bitcoin Office

This reached a crescendo successful March erstwhile the IMF sent different announcement to El Salvador asking it to halt accumulating BTC nether the presumption of work for the indebtedness agreement.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele responded with defiance, telling the IMF that the state would proceed accumulating BTC daily.

“No, it’s not stopping. If it didn’t halt erstwhile the satellite ostracized america and astir ‘bitcoiners’ abandoned us, it won’t halt now, and it won’t halt successful the future,” Bukele wrote successful a March 4 X post.

The IMF study sent shockwaves done the Bitcoin assemblage owed to El Salvador’s presumption arsenic 1 of the starring countries to clasp a nationalist strategical Bitcoin reserve and Bukele’s outspoken stance connected stacking the supply-capped integer currency.

Magazine: El Salvador’s nationalist Bitcoin main has been orange-pilling Argentina