IMF Now Says Donations Funded El Salvador's Bitcoin Growth - BIF

In brief

IMF staff reached a preliminary agreement on El Salvador’s combined second and third program reviews, unlocking about $140 million if the board approves.
Documentation showed the Bitcoin added since June 2025 came from private donations, with no public money spent, the IMF said.
As recently as last week, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office claimed that it had “bought” BTC.

Private donations account for the Bitcoin El Salvador has added to its national reserve since mid-2025, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, announcing a staff-level agreement on the country’s combined second and third program reviews.

Documentation supplied by Salvadoran authorities verified that the accumulation since the first review “reflects private donations and that no public resources were used,” the fund said. It expects no further additions beyond those documented donations.

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The IMF’s account differs from one the fund gave a year ago. In September 2025, an IMF communications officer told Decrypt that the total quantity of government-owned Bitcoin had not increased at all, and that growth in El Salvador’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund reflected coins moving between wallets the state already controlled.

The reserve held 5,968 BTC when the program began in December 2024 and now stands at 7,764 BTC, per El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office. President Nayib Bukele’s government has maintained throughout that it buys one Bitcoin a day, and announced a 1,090 BTC purchase worth roughly $100 million last November.

As recently as last week, the Bitcoin Office tweeted that El Salvador had “just bought more Bitcoin,” attaching a treasury chart showing 31 coins added over 30 days, contradicting the IMF’s account.

Chivo changes hands

Majority ownership and operational control of Chivo, the state wallet launched alongside the 2021 Bitcoin Law, have passed to a private operator the fund did not name. El Salvador keeps a minority stake and responsibility for safeguarding customer assets.

The reviews would release about $140 million, or SDR 101.96 million, once the executive board signs off and El Salvador completes agreed prior actions. The money is a tranche of the 40-month, $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility approved in February 2025, whose terms required the country to make merchant acceptance of Bitcoin voluntary, collect taxes in dollars and stop public-sector buying.

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Staff also reached understandings on modernizing digital asset regulation and tightening governance and risk management around public-sector crypto holdings.

The fund projects 4.5% growth this year on the back of investment, remittances and tourism, and wants public debt brought toward 80% of GDP by 2030.

Who gave El Salvador the Bitcoin, and how much each donor handed over, the IMF did not say.