President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador announced that his administration will continue to purchase Bitcoin, despite a recent recommendation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging them to halt such activities.
On March 3, the IMF made a new request for an extended agreement under its $1.4 billion fund for El Salvador, advising the country to stop its public sector from voluntarily acquiring Bitcoin (BTC).
“No, it’s not stopping,” Bukele stated in a post on X on March 4, affirming that El Salvador would not adhere to the IMF’s demands.
“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,” he added.
Source: Nayib Bukele
On March 4, El Salvador maintained its strategy by purchasing at least one Bitcoin daily as part of its treasury management.
The IMF’s memorandum from March 3 also called for an end to Bitcoin mining operations and called for restrictions on the issuance of public sector debt or tokenized instruments linked to Bitcoin.
While Bukele made it clear that the country would keep acquiring Bitcoin, it remains uncertain if El Salvador will address the other requests.
The National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador did not provide an immediate reply to a request for comments.
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The nation initially secured a $1.4 billion funding arrangement with the IMF in December 2024, which included commitments to scale back its Bitcoin-related projects.
These measures encompassed allowing Bitcoin payments to be optional and requiring tax payments to be made in US dollars.
Currently, El Salvador holds 6,101 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $534.5 million, according to figures from The National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador.
This places El Salvador as the country with the sixth-largest Bitcoin reserve, following the US, China, the UK, Ukraine, and Bhutan, as indicated by BitBo’s Bitcoin Treasuries data.
El Salvador began acquiring Bitcoin in September 2021, becoming the first nation to recognize it as legal tender.
However, this status was restricted in January when a new law was passed allowing BTC acceptance to be voluntary for private sector merchants.
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