El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has publicly refuted terms laid out by the IMF to secure a $1.4 billion December loan agreement, just days after the global financial watchdog announced new requirements that seek to apply pressure to the Central American nation.
"'This all stops in April.' This all stops in June.' This all stops in December.' No, it's not stopping," Bukele wrote Tuesday in a post on X.
The new rules set by the IMF in its March 2025 country report this week aim to establish "continuous quantitative performance criteria" with a "ceiling of 0" on government Bitcoin purchases.
In other words, the terms compel the region’s smallest nation to follow the rules by halting its Bitcoin buys to receive funding in tranches over an extended period, or risk torpedoing the country's Extended Fund Facility program.
The agreement mandates the liquidation of the Fidebitcoin trust fund by July 2025, the termination of government participation in the Chivo wallet system, and the publication of all government Bitcoin wallet addresses.
IMF Imposes New Bitcoin Rules on El Salvador Through Its $1.4 Billion Loan
The International Monetary Fund has added new conditions to the 40-month, $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for El Salvador. When it was initially approved in December, it already contained strict limitations on government Bitcoin activities, while allowing retention of existing holdings. “Going forward, program commitments will confine government engagement in Bitcoin-related economic activities, as well as government transactions in and purchases of Bitcoin,” Nigel Clarke, deputy manag...
Bukele's defiance coincided with the country’s Bitcoin Office announcing the addition of 1 BTC to its national reserves on Tuesday, bringing El Salvador’s total holdings to 6,101 BTC ($510 million), data from Arkham Intelligence shows.
While there has been criticism of how Bukele runs El Salvador, the president has found support among Bitcoin stakeholders, including Strategy chairman Michael Saylor.
"Bitcoin adoption is unstoppable," Saylor posted to X in response to Bukele's tweet.
'I Told You So': Bukele Takes Victory Lap as El Salvador Bitcoin Stash Hits $100 Million Profit
El Salvador has been stockpiling Bitcoin since 2021, the same year the country made the orange coin legal tender. With Bitcoin’s recent spike in value, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele took to Twitter to brag, as the country hit $100 million of unrealized profit. “I told you so,” Bukele said on Twitter. This comes after the President faced backlash for integrating Bitcoin so directly into El Salvador’s economy. In 2022, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Bukele that Bitcoin could d...
The purchase of Bitcoin using public funds from El Salvador's national treasury has previously run afoul with the global watchdog.
In 2022, the IMF urged El Salvador to discontinue Bitcoin’s status as legal tender, citing risks to financial stability and consumer protections after the country approved its use in September 2021.
In October last year, during discussions for the loan, the IMF recommended narrowing the scope of the country’s Bitcoin Law, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and limiting public sector exposure to the asset.
That had followed multiple downgrades of the country’s credit rating by agencies Fitch and Moody’s in February and September 2022.
“If it 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 wrote Tuesday. “Proof of work > proof of whining.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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