Private donations explain the increase in Bitcoin reserves held by El Salvador since mid-2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday, when announcing a staff-level agreement on the combined second and third reviews of the country's programme.
Documentation provided by Salvadoran authorities confirmed that the accumulation since the first review "reflects private donations and that no public funds were used", the Fund said. The institution does not anticipate further additions beyond these documented donations.
The IMF's account differs from the one it gave a year earlier. In September 2025, an IMF communications representative told the website Decrypt that the total amount of Bitcoin held by the government had not increased and that growth in El Salvador's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund merely reflected coins being moved between wallets already controlled by the state.
The reserve held 5,968 BTC when the programme began in December 2024 and now totals 7,764 BTC, according to El Salvador's Bitcoin Office. The government of President Nayib Bukele has consistently maintained that it buys one Bitcoin a day and announced in November the purchase of 1,090 BTC, valued at roughly US$100 million.
As recently as last week, the Bitcoin Office posted on X (formerly Twitter) that El Salvador had "just bought more Bitcoin", attaching a treasury chart showing the addition of 31 coins over 30 days — which contradicts the IMF's account.
Change in Chivo's management
The majority stake and operational control of Chivo — the state wallet launched alongside the 2021 Bitcoin Law — have been transferred to a private operator not named by the Fund. El Salvador retains a minority stake and responsibility for custody of client assets.
The reviews are expected to release roughly US$140 million (or 101.96 million SDRs — Special Drawing Rights) once the Executive Board approves the measure and El Salvador completes the agreed prior actions. The amount is part of the 40-month, US$1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility approved in February 2025; the terms of the agreement required the country to make Bitcoin acceptance voluntary for merchants, collect taxes in dollars, and halt public-sector purchases.
The technical team also reached understandings on modernising digital asset regulation and strengthening governance and risk management related to the public sector's crypto asset reserves. The Fund projects growth of 4.5% this year, driven by investment, remittances and tourism, and argues that public debt should be reduced to around 80% of GDP by 2030.
The IMF did not disclose who donated Bitcoin to El Salvador or how much each donor contributed.
* Translated and edited with permission from Decrypt.
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