The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has introduced new stipulations for El Salvador’s 40-month, $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Initially approved in December, the agreement already included stringent restrictions on government Bitcoin operations while permitting the retention of current holdings.
“Moving forward, commitments under the program will limit government involvement in Bitcoin-related economic activities and restrict government transactions and purchases of Bitcoin,” stated Nigel Clarke, the IMF’s deputy managing director and acting chair of the board.
The agreement elaborated in a March 2025 IMF Country report released on Monday, introduces three major requirements concerning cryptocurrencies.
Firstly, a “continuous quantitative performance criterion” disallows any new Bitcoin acquisitions by government entities, establishing a “ceiling of 0” for the entire duration of the program.
Furthermore, the revised conditions require the liquidation of the Fidebitcoin trust fund by July 2025 and the cessation of government involvement in the Chivo wallet system.
The third key stipulation involves the disclosure of all government Bitcoin wallet addresses, the segregation of Chivo user funds, and the provision of audited financial statements for entities related to crypto.
Changes to the country’s Bitcoin Law, passed in June 2021, are also in the works to clarify “the legal nature of Bitcoin” and to eliminate “the key characteristics of legal tender” from the legislation.
This will entail “removing the obligation for both the public and private sectors to accept Bitcoin in transactions,” thus “rendering acceptance of Bitcoin by the private sector voluntary” and limiting its use within the public sector, as stated by the IMF.
Back and forward
Decrypt reported last December that El Salvador was forced to scale back its Bitcoin integration efforts. By January, the country had consented to several of the IMF’s conditions.
It now seems that the IMF’s terminology in earlier documents, particularly the word “confined,” pertains to El Salvador’s Bitcoin purchases, according to Samson Mow, CEO of Bitcoin technology firm JAN3.
“I would have preferred to hear this from the Bukele administration instead of the IMF,” Mow expressed on X.
The IMF’s report also forbids the issuance of “any kind of debt or tokenized instrument that is linked to or denominated in Bitcoin.” These restrictions are categorized as “continuous quantitative performance criteria,” making them obligatory rather than optional.
Despite these limitations, El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings are reported to be around 6,100 BTC, valued at approximately $510 million after acquiring an additional 5 BTC from Bitfinex, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.
El Salvador has also increasingly embraced both cryptocurrency and AI ventures, with President Nayib Bukele meeting with Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz on March 2 to discuss investment prospects in artificial intelligence and the potential development of El Salvador as a regional technological hub.
In a prior engagement two weeks earlier, Bukele had a discussion with Strategy chairman Michael Saylor regarding Bitcoin. Earlier in January, stablecoin issuer Tether established a presence in the country.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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