CryptoSlate
El Salvador's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve grew by roughly 1,540 BTC over the past year, from about 6,224 BTC at the end of June 2025 to more than 7,764 BTC on the government's official tracker. The IMF's latest loan-program review says none of that accumulation was funded by public money. The Fund's assessment, drawn from documents El Salvador supplied, concluded that the BTC added since the previous review "reflected private donations" and that no public resources were used, with no further accumulation expected beyond what those contributions documented.
Why it matters
This is more than a bookkeeping footnote. It is the first time the IMF has directly contradicted the headline of Bukele's Bitcoin strategy: the daily "one BTC per day" framing that has run from the National Bitcoin Office for years. The Fund also reiterated that earlier changes in the reserve had not necessarily represented new buying at all, pointing instead to transfers among government-controlled wallets and BTC-denominated deposits routed through the Chivo e-wallet. The Salvadoran government, for its part, has "substantially unwound" its stake in Chivo, transferring majority ownership to a private operator while keeping a minority stake and custodial responsibility for customer assets.
Market impact
The dispute now sits on the open ledger El Salvador itself published. After overhauling its treasury structure last year, the country spreads its BTC across multiple addresses and keeps them publicly visible, a security and quantum-resistance decision that also lets observers verify the balance. The structure does not, however, distinguish BTC bought with public money from donations or wallet transfers, and that opacity is what gives the disagreement its teeth. For investors, the read is mixed: El Salvador clearly owns materially more Bitcoin than it did a year ago, but the sovereign-buyer narrative that propped up that framing now carries an asterisk on the source. The market-relevant question is whether the daily-purchase cadence still describes government-funded accumulation or simply the pace at which BTC is entering the reserve from any source.
Frequently asked questions
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How much Bitcoin did El Salvador's reserve grow by?
El Salvador's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve grew by roughly 1,540 BTC since the end of June 2025, taking the official tracker balance from about 6,224 BTC to more than 7,764 BTC.
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Did the IMF say the government of El Salvador paid for the new Bitcoin?
No. The IMF's latest review said documents El Salvador supplied showed the BTC accumulated since the previous review "reflected private donations" and that no public resources were used.
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What does the IMF say about earlier changes to El Salvador's reserve?
The IMF reiterated that earlier changes had not necessarily represented new buying. It said those movements reflected transfers among government-controlled wallets and BTC-denominated deposits held through the Chivo e-wallet.
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What is the 'one BTC per day' policy?
It is the National Bitcoin Office's long-running public message that El Salvador buys one Bitcoin per day. The IMF's latest assessment now complicates whether that pace describes government-funded purchases or the rate at which BTC enters the reserve from any source.
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Did El Salvador change how it stores its Bitcoin reserve?
Yes. Last year the country split its treasury across multiple addresses for security and quantum-resistance reasons. The new structure keeps addresses publicly visible for verification but does not distinguish BTC bought with public money from donations or wallet transfers.
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