El Salvador is the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Despite committing to limit public sector exposure to the asset as part of a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country has stated that it has purchased over $100 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC).
According to data from the El Salvador Bitcoin Office, the government purchased 1,090 BTC worth over $100 million on November 18. This purchase occurred after an IMF report in July indicated that the Central American country had not bought any new BTC since the organization approved a $1.4 billion loan program at the end of 2024.
Based on El Salvador's Bitcoin reserve data, the country's BTC holdings increased from 5,968 coins on December 18, 2024 (when the government signed the agreement with the IMF) to over 7,474 coins following the latest purchase announcement.
As of the time of writing, El Salvador's reserves are valued at approximately $683 million, despite BTC losing some of its gains after dropping 28% from its historical high of over $126,000 in early October to $96,000 at the time of writing.
This move came after comments made by Quentin Ehrenmann, the general manager of My First Bitcoin, in July. My First Bitcoin is a non-governmental organization focused on Bitcoin education, and he stated that El Salvador's Bitcoin reserves have limited impact on the broader public. He said, "Since the government signed this contract with the IMF, Bitcoin is no longer legal tender, and we have not seen any other efforts to educate the public."
As of the time of writing, neither the IMF nor the El Salvador government has responded to Cointelegraph's request for comment.
Data from the El Salvador Bitcoin Office seems to indicate that the government has continued to accumulate BTC since signing the IMF agreement. The IMF also requested the country in early March to limit Bitcoin purchases according to the terms of a previous loan agreement.
However, a letter signed by the president of the Central Bank of El Salvador and the Minister of Finance—cited in the aforementioned July IMF report—claims that the Central American country has not purchased any Bitcoin since the 2024 loan.
The IMF report explains that Chivo "will not adjust its Bitcoin reserves to reflect changes in customer Bitcoin deposits," leading to a "slight" discrepancy that makes it appear as though the El Salvador public sector is accumulating BTC.
The letter signed by El Salvador officials further states, "Under the commitments of this plan, the Bitcoin stock held by the public sector remains unchanged." The letter also promises that measures are being taken to reduce exposure.
These assurances were made prior to the latest—and unusually large—Bitcoin purchase. Even so, the government had been hinting at steadily accumulating BTC before this week's purchase, raising new questions about the extent to which it is complying with the IMF agreement and how it reports its Bitcoin reserves.
Related: Why Brazil is using Bitcoin (BTC) as a reserve asset and what other countries can learn from it
Original article: “El Salvador's latest $100 million Bitcoin (BTC) purchase reignites questions related to the IMF agreement”
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
