El Salvador keeps buying Bitcoin despite $1.4b IMF deal

El Salvador is continuing to buy Bitcoin even after agreeing to scale back purchases as part of a $1.4 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.

The Central American nation’s Bitcoin Office is still buying Bitcoin (BTC) despite signing a $1.4 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund that required it to scale back crypto purchases, El Salvador‘s economy minister Maria Luisa Hayem said in an interview with Bloomberg.

“There’s a commitment of President Bukele to keep accumulating assets as a way to do precisely that. Bitcoin keeps being an important project. There is an asset accumulation that we’re seeing from the government perspective, from the private sector perspective.”

Maria Luisa Hayem

As of press time, El Salvador holds 6,162 BTC — worth over $580 million — according to Bitcoin Treasuries data. Despite its pro-Bitcoin stance, the country isn’t the largest government holder as even Bhutan, the small Himalayan kingdom, holds 7,486 BTC, although it’s been gradually selling BTC since Q4 2024.

Hayem’s statement comes as the country faces scrutiny over how it’s implementing its Bitcoin Law. A report by El Mundo had earlier found that nearly 90% of the crypto firms registered in El Salvador are not operating. The Central Reserve Bank listed only 20 out of 181 registered providers as active, while the rest are marked “non-operating.”

At least 22 of the inactive companies may have failed to meet regulatory requirements under Article 4 of the Bitcoin Law Regulation, which requires providers to operate with “high standards of integrity and honesty” and maintain AML programs, asset records, and cybersecurity systems.