IMF Confirms El Salvador's Bitcoin (BTC) Buys Were Private Donations, Clears $140M Payout

IMF Clears $140M for El Salvador

The International Monetary Fund has verified that El Salvador's Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation since June 2025 was financed exclusively through private donations rather than public money, reaching staff-level agreement on the combined second and third reviews of the country's Extended Fund Facility. Subject to Executive Board approval and completion of agreed prior actions, El Salvador is set to receive roughly $140 million under the $1.4 billion program it signed in late December, an arrangement under which the fund pressed the government to scale back parts of its Bitcoin strategy. Documentation submitted by San Salvador shows that every increase in its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings since the first review reflects donated coins, and the fund does not anticipate any additional accumulation beyond the documented donations. The verification appears in the fund's official release on the combined review. The agreement also settles the fate of Chivo, the state-run Bitcoin wallet launched in 2021 to drive domestic Bitcoin adoption: majority ownership and operational control have transferred to a private operator, while the government retains a minority stake and remains responsible for safeguarding customer assets. Both parties further agreed on steps to modernize the legal, regulatory and supervisory framework for digital assets and to tighten governance and risk management around public-sector crypto holdings. On the macro side, the IMF's mission chief for El Salvador said real GDP growth exceeded expectations in 2025 and is projected to reach 4.5% in 2026, with the primary fiscal balance set to improve from 2.9% of GDP this year to 3.7% by 2027, consistent with the fiscal responsibility law's target of cutting public debt to 80% of GDP by 2030.

The 7,764 BTC Stash

El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, a move celebrated across the Bitcoin maximalism community and one that initially obliged businesses with the technological means to accept the cryptocurrency. In November 2022, President Nayib Bukele publicly committed to buying one bitcoin every single day, though where the money came from was never disclosed — and skeptics openly questioned whether the purchases were happening at all. The government nonetheless kept stacking, and its holdings now stand at 7,764 BTC, worth well over $600 million at current market prices — in effect a state-level HODL strategy underpinning the country's self-styled strategic Bitcoin reserve ambitions. The path was bumpy: in May 2025 the fund indicated El Salvador would keep its holdings unchanged, yet balances kept climbing, and IMF staff previously suggested the increases might have been cosmetic — the product of transfers between government wallets rather than fresh purchases — a discrepancy with the government's own account. The documentation now presented appears to close that gap by confirming the coins arrived as donations, and both sides say they will keep working to improve transparency over holdings scattered across multiple wallets. Bukele conceded in 2024 that Salvadorans were not spending the cryptocurrency as expected, but the country has since pivoted to a tech-hub pitch: a sweeping crime crackdown has driven murder rates down sharply, and crypto companies such as Tether have relocated to the capital, San Salvador. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Binance.

publicly committed to buying one bitcoin every single dayhttps://x.com/nayibbukele/status/1593113857261965312

$81,479 Ceiling in Play

Spot BTC changes hands near $79,705 at the time of writing, down 2.16% over 24 hours, with firming Fed hike odds after payrolls keeping the market pinned just below $80,000. COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine rates the $81,479 resistance at 78/100, driven by the confluence of Donchian Upper, ATR Upper and Fibo 0.000, while the nearest support at $78,059 scores 76/100 on Swing Low, ATR Lower and S1 signals. Derivatives positioning is mixed: funding sits at -0.0017%, open interest at $15.95 billion and the long/short account ratio at 1.14, against a Fear & Greed reading of 74 (Greed). A daily close above $81,479 would open the path toward $88,124 (54/100); losing $78,059 would invalidate the range thesis and expose $75,660.