While publicly touting an unwavering commitment to cryptocurrency, El Salvador has quietly halted all government Bitcoin purchases since December 2024. The country’s leaders still talk a big crypto game, but the numbers don’t lie. According to the IMF’s July 2025 review, El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings haven’t budged since the international lender stepped in with its $1.4 billion bailout package.
The situation is pretty straightforward. Money problems forced El Salvador to play by the IMF’s rules. Those rules? No more Bitcoin purchases. No more government crypto transactions. And definitely no more forcing merchants to accept digital money they don’t understand.
When the IMF holds the purse strings, your crypto dreams get put on ice.
The finance ministry even had to hand over their wallet addresses for monitoring. Talk about helicopter parenting! Bitcoin’s status as legal tender? Gone. Vanished in January 2025 with surprisingly little fanfare.
The celebrated Chivo Wallet system is headed for privatization by the end of July. The Fidebitcoin trust may also be dissolved as part of the country’s compliance with IMF requirements. The government’s grand experiment with national crypto adoption is basically dead – at least officially. The country’s mining operations, once powered by specialized ASIC machines, have been completely dismantled.
But here’s where things get interesting. While the government claims compliance with the IMF’s demands, there’s evidence of workarounds. A separate “Bitcoin Office” continues making small daily purchases, technically outside the fiscal sector. The office contradicts official statements by claiming the country holds approximately 6,242 BTC in reserves.
It’s like telling your doctor you’ve quit smoking while hiding cigarettes in your sock drawer. President Bukele can’t seem to get his story straight. He brags about daily Bitcoin buys to crypto enthusiasts while his finance officials swear to the IMF they’ve stopped completely.
Classic having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too situation. The impact goes beyond El Salvador. The IMF now has a blueprint for handling crypto-curious nations. Local merchants are free from mandatory Bitcoin acceptance.
And El Salvador’s reputation as a crypto innovator? Substantially diminished.
