In a press briefing during the spring meetings of 2025, the IMF highlighted that, according to their data, El Salvador has complied with the bitcoin non-accumulation agenda to which it committed. Nonetheless, the country continues to report regular bitcoin purchases.
Is Someone Lying? IMF Confirms El Salvador's Compliance With Bitcoin Non-Accumulation Commitment
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IMF States El Salvador Has Not Accumulated More Bitcoin, but Bukele Keeps ‘Buying’
The controversy regarding the compliance or non-compliance with the Bitcoin non-purchasing clause of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-El Salvador deal has surged again. During a recent press conference as part of the IMF’s 2025 spring meetings, the fund referred to this issue, which has perplexed the cryptocurrency community following the country’s cryptocurrency experiment.
The fund was asked how El Salvador could comply with the bitcoin purchasing restrictions, referring to a possible shifting of bitcoin from one account to another, enabling it to “add” to its reserves without further purchases.
Rodrigo Valdes, Director of Western Hemisphere Department at the IMF, confirmed the country’s adherence to the deal’s conditions without directly addressing the question. In December, the fund granted Bukele’s administration a credit facility of $1.4 billion, conditioned on the confinement of the government’s Bitcoin-related economic activities, including purchases.
Read more: Bitcoin Purchases Confined: IMF Approves $1.4 Billion Credit Facility for El Salvador
Valdes stated:
Let me say that I can confirm that they continue to comply with their commitment of non-accumulation of bitcoin by the overall fiscal sector, which is the performance criteria that we have.
At the same time, Valdes sidelined bitcoin’s relevance in this program, stressing that it encompassed “much more,” and it was “much deeper in structural reforms, in terms of governance, in terms of transparency.”
Nonetheless, these statements spurred confusion in social media circles, given that the National Bitcoin Office reported having added more bitcoin since these declarations were made. This situation prompted questions from crypto enthusiasts, who ask for more transparency about El Salvador’s alleged continued purchases.
Forbes contributor Javier Bastardo called out the government’s confusing communication policies, highlighting that the IMF “suggests that they are just moving previously acquired BTC to that public addy.”
Nonetheless, the specific arrangements for acquiring these tokens remain shrouded in mystery.
