El Salvador clears IMF review, freeing $140M after halting state Bitcoin buys

The IMF has reached an agreement with El Salvador that gives it access to about $140 million in fresh funding. 

The deal was made after the El Salvador government showed the lender that its continued Bitcoin purchases were paid for with private donations instead of state money. 

Why is the IMF questioning El Salvador’s Bitcoin purchases? 

The El Salvador government has had to prove to the IMF that its Bitcoin purchases were made with private donations and not the state’s money in order to gain access to $140 million in funding. The money sits inside a total facility of about $1.4 billion (360% of the country’s IMF quota) that began in February 2025.

Following the confirmation, the IMF and El Salvador reached a staff-level deal that combines the second and third reviews of the country’s 40-month loan program. However, the deal still requires approval from the IMF Executive Board. 

The documents handed over by Salvadoran authorities confirmed that coins added to the country’s reserves after the program’s first review came from donors, and the IMF said in its statement that it expects no more accumulation beyond what has already been documented.

The IMF projects 4.5% real GDP growth for El Salvador in 2026, driven by investment, remittances, tourism, and consumer spending. The public sector’s primary surplus is set to widen from 2.9% of GDP to 3.7% by 2027.

However, around 30% of Salvadorans still live in poverty. Economists estimate roughly 15,000 state workers have been laid off since 2024 under the program’s austerity terms, while labor unions put job losses at 47,000 since President Nayib Bukele took office in 2019. 

El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office tracker shows that the country holds roughly 7,764 BTC. With each one worth about $80,900, the total value of its holdings is $628 million. This price places the country fifth among other government holders of Bitcoin, including China, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.

Will El Salvador continue to accumulate Bitcoin?

El Salvador became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021. The move was one that President Nayib Bukele sold as a way to modernize the economy and reach unbanked citizens, but the country’s relationship with the IMF has been contentious ever since.

Under the December 2024 agreement, El Salvador consented to limit public-sector Bitcoin activity, make private acceptance voluntary, and unwind government control of the Chivo wallet. 

The IMF went even further in March 2025 and banned “voluntary accumulation” by the public sector. Bukele insisted that the buying would not stop and that the country would keep adding at least one BTC a day, but Cryptopolitan reported later that year, in September, that government-owned Bitcoin had not grown at all. 

IMF communications officer Meera Louis said that the gains in the reserve fund were from coins moving between state wallets rather than new purchases. 

When El Salvador said in November 2025 it had bought 1,090 BTC worth $100 million, the question of whether it was complying with the IMF’s rules arose.

Notably, a private company now holds majority ownership of the Chivo wallet and handles its day-to-day operations. The government keeps a small ownership share and is still responsible for protecting customer funds.

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