El Salvador hasn't bought Bitcoin since February, finance chiefs tell IMF, contradicting Bukele administration
Quick Take
- El Salvador has not purchased Bitcoin since at least February 2025, according to a letter signed by the country’s central bank president and finance minister and released as part of a recent IMF compliance report.
- Increases to the country’s reserve fund reflect the consolidation of Bitcoin from other government-owned wallets rather than fresh purchases, the IMF report states.
- El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, had previously denied that the country would stop purchasing Bitcoin to comply with the terms of a $1.4 billion loan from the IMF.
- Bukele’s Bitcoin Office has repeatedly announced daily 1 BTC purchases.
A letter signed by two of El Salvador's top finance officials states that the country hasn't bought any bitcoin since February, 2025, when its financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) commenced, directly contradicting statements from the country's president, Nayib Bukele, and his Bitcoin Office.
The letter, released as part of the IMF's first program review on July 15, says "the stock of Bitcoins held by the public sector remains
unchanged." An attached document notes that El Salvador has provided the addresses of all hot and cold wallets to the IMF for review and monitoring. The letter was signed by central bank president Douglas Pablo Rodríguez Fuentes and minister of finance Jerson Rogelio Posada Molina.
Yet Bukele's administration has repeatedly touted new purchases of one BTC daily since November of 2022, when Bukele announced the initiative. The country's Bitcoin Office claims the country's bitcoin reserve holds about 6,242 BTC, worth around $737 million. Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham backs up the daily 1 BTC transfers, mostly from addresses tagged as Binance or Bitfinex hot wallets.
Bukele had previously stated that despite the IMF agreement, which secured a loan of $1.4 billion for El Salvador but required the country to reduce its Bitcoin activity, he would not stop buying BTC. "If [the BTC purchases] didn’t stop when the world ostracized us and most 'bitcoiners' abandoned us, it won't stop now, and it won't stop in the future," Bukele previously said on X.
However, the new report indicates that these may not be purchases, but rather the Salvadoran government consolidating bitcoin it already owns. "Increases in Bitcoin holdings in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund reflect the consolidation of Bitcoin across various government-owned wallets," the IMF report states in a footnote.
The head of the Bitcoin Office, Stacy Herbert, has previously stated that El Salvador continues to buy bitcoin in defiance of the IMF deal. "Some 'bitcoiners' trust the words of the IMF over the stacking actions of El Salvador recorded for eternity onto the Bitcoin blockchain," Herbert wrote on X in March. The Block was unable to immediately reach the Bitcoin Office for comment.
The IMF had previously said that the increase in bitcoin in the country's reserve did not violate the terms of the financing deal. "We consulted with the authorities, and they have assured us that the recent increase in Bitcoin holdings in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund is consistent with agreed program conditionality," the IMF told a Forbes contributor in March.
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