El Salvador Stopped Buying Bitcoin in February

A letter signed by two senior financial leaders of El Salvador indicates that the country has stopped buying additional Bitcoin since February 2025 - the start of the financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), completely contrary to statements from President Nayib Bukele and the National Bitcoin Office. The letter, included in the first IMF review report published on July 15, confirms that "the amount of Bitcoin held by the public sector remains unchanged". The attached document also reveals that El Salvador provided the government's hot and Cold Storage wallet addresses for IMF monitoring. The letter was signed by Central Bank Chairman Douglas Pablo Rodríguez Fuentes and Finance Minister Jerson Rogelio Posada Molina. However, the Bukele administration has continuously claimed to be implementing a strategy of buying 1 BTC daily since November 2022. The Bitcoin Office estimates the government's reserves currently hold around 6,242 BTC (~$737 million). Data from Arkham confirms daily BTC transfer activities from wallets tagged with Binance or Bitfinex. Previously, Bukele had asserted that he would not stop buying Bitcoin despite the IMF agreement, which requires reducing crypto-related activities to receive a $1.4 billion loan: "If we didn't stop when the world boycotted us, we won't stop now, and we won't stop in the future," he wrote on X. However, the IMF report suggests recent transactions may not be new purchases but asset consolidation: "The increase in Bitcoin in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve reflects the consolidation of wallets owned by the government," a note in the report clarifies. The Bitcoin Office head, Stacy Herbert, previously wrote that El Salvador continues to buy Bitcoin despite the IMF. "Some people would rather believe the IMF than the stacking actions permanently recorded on the blockchain," she posted on X in March. Nevertheless, the IMF stated that the increase in Bitcoin in the reserve does not violate the agreement conditions: "We consulted with the authorities and were confirmed that this is in line with the agreed terms," the IMF responded to Forbes in March.