preferred on
Points of Focus
- The IMF released about $138 million to El Salvador and waived missed Bitcoin accumulation targets.
- The IMF expects no further Bitcoin accumulation in El Salvador beyond documented donations.
- El Salvador’s Bitcoin office shows a 7,792.37-BTC treasury worth about 4.9 times the tranche.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board released about $138 million to El Salvador on Oct. 1 after completing the second and third reviews of its Extended Fund Facility. It granted waivers for performance criteria it did not meet, including Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation.
IMF Approves $139 Million for El Salvador After Waiver for Bitcoin Breach
According to Bloomberg, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved an immediate $139 million disbursement to El Salvador after granting a waiver for the government’s breach of restrictions on further… pic.twitter.com/WZ89MAbYG5
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) October 2, 2026
The disbursement equals Special Drawing Right (SDR) 101.96 million, and the fund said it does not envisage further Bitcoin accumulation beyond documented donations. The 40-month arrangement, approved on Feb. 26, 2025, committed the government to limit public-sector Bitcoin purchases.
IMF El Salvador Bitcoin waiver and $138 million disbursement
The board’s release says economic activity exceeded expectations and that reserve and liquidity targets were comfortably met, while the waivers rest on strong corrective measures and renewed commitments.
Total access under the arrangement is SDR 1,033.92 million, about $1.4 billion, and the IMF’s Sept. 3 staff statement puts earlier disbursements at SDR 172.32 million. Adding the new tranche brings the total to SDR 274.28 million, or 26.5% of access, leaving SDR 759.64 million undrawn.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin treasury and the donations question
The National Bitcoin Office’s treasury page showed 7,792.37 BTC, valued at $670,323,413.25, with a seven-day change of +8.00 BTC on Oct. 2.
The six most recent treasury transactions listed were each 1.0000 BTC, the latest about 12 hours earlier, though the page lists only the date and amount of each transaction. The holdings are worth about 4.9 times the tranche.
The staff statement says documentation was provided verifying that accumulation since the first review reflects private donations and that no public resources were used. IMF directors had asked in the June 27, 2025, first review that overall public sector Bitcoin holdings not increase. The IMF’s press releases do not itemize the donations.
Chivo wallet and Digital Asset Issuance Law changes
Majority ownership and operational control of the Chivo e-wallet moved to a private operator. At the same time, the government retained a minority stake and custody of customer assets, according to the same staff statement.
First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz, who chaired the board discussion, said the residual public exposure “should be fully unwound” and urged amendments to the Digital Asset Issuance Law to improve oversight of crypto asset providers.
The 2025 program had already made private acceptance of Bitcoin voluntary and limited tax payments to US dollars. Negotiations to sell Chivo were well advanced on Dec. 22, 2025, when an IMF staff statement said talks on the Bitcoin project centered on transparency, safeguarding public resources, and mitigating risks.
IMF sovereign Bitcoin policy and fiscal context
The board table projects gross international reserves of $5.346 billion in 2026, so the treasury’s current value equals about 12.5% of that figure, which compares a live valuation with a projection.
The same release projects real GDP growth of 4.5% in 2026 and a nonfinancial public sector primary balance of 2.9% of GDP, and the staff statement expects the primary surplus to reach 3.7% of GDP in 2027, consistent with an 80% debt-to-GDP objective by 2030. The table puts nonfinancial public sector gross debt at 85.0% of GDP in 2026 and 89.2% in 2027.
The board table puts the 2027 overall deficit at 7.7% of GDP, a figure that includes the recognition of $2.3 billion in accrued interest owed to private pension funds.
Share
Most read articles
