El Salvador accelerates Bitcoin buying following IMF deal

El Salvador has ramped up its Bitcoin buying a day after agreeing to an International Monetary Fund deal that required scaling back its government-led crypto activities.

On Dec. 19, the first nation to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender and host a Bitcoin strategic reserve added 11 BTC worth over $1 million to its holdings. With the recent purchase, the country’s total holdings now stand at over 5,980 Bitcoin, currently valued at over $577 million according to the National Bitcoin Office’s tracker.

Up until now, El Salvador’s Bitcoin accumulation followed the steady pace of its “1 Bitcoin a day” program, launched by President Nayib Bukele after making the cryptocurrency legal tender in 2022.

However, the latest purchase deviated from the strategy and aligns with the National Bitcoin Office’s plans to continue buying Bitcoin at an “accelerated pace,” as confirmed by the Bitcoin office’s director, Stacy Herbert, on Dec. 19.

This follows the country’s recent yet-to-be-confirmed $1.4 billion IMF deal, which mandates changes to its Bitcoin policy. The global regulator has repeatedly warned of the economic risks Bitcoin adoption could pose to the nation’s financial stability.

As part of the deal, El Salvador has agreed to remove mandatory requirements for businesses to accept Bitcoin, making it optional, and to restrict tax payments to US dollars. Further, the country will also wind down the Chivo crypto wallet, which was launched in 2021 as the nation’s state-backed platform to facilitate Bitcoin transactions.

Nevertheless, according to Herbert, the country will continue to accept Bitcoin as legal tender and expand its efforts to solidify its position as a Bitcoin-focused economy. This includes advancing Bitcoin capital markets, fostering education programs, and supporting private-sector Bitcoin wallets to serve the growing ecosystem.

Additionally, initiatives like blockchain developer training and financial literacy programs will remain central to El Salvador’s Bitcoin strategy as governments worldwide grow increasingly curious about Bitcoin, spurred by incoming US President Donald Trump’s plan to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Notably, regulators in Brazil have proposed allocating 5% of the nation’s $370 billion treasury to a Bitcoin strategic reserve. Elsewhere, a deputy in the Russian parliament has urged Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to consider a similar approach.

Last month, Polish minister Sławomir Mentzen also pitched the idea of Poland holding Bitcoin in a bid to make the country more crypto-friendly.