El Salvador Bitcoin Buying Spree Continues Despite IMF Pressure and Stock Market Volatility
1min read El Salvador has acquired over 13 Bitcoin (BTC) since March 1, despite the conditions set by its $1.4 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The country's Bitcoin treasury now holds a total of over 6,105 BTC, valued at more than $527 million at current prices. el Salvador typically acquires BTC at a steady pace of 1 coin every 24 hours, but on March 3, the country purchased 5 BTC in a single day, indicating a significant increase in its Bitcoin accumulation.
El Salvador's continued acquisition of Bitcoin comes despite the IMF's pressure on the country's public sector to stop accumulating the decentralized store of value asset. The IMF loan agreement, struck in December 2024, included provisions that prohibited the country from engaging in public Bitcoin accumulation. As part of that deal, the government of El Salvador agreed to rescind the status of BTC as legal tender in the country and scale back public sector involvement with Bitcoin.
In response to the IMF's pressure, El Salvador's Congress amended its Bitcoin laws in January 2025 to comply with the IMF loan agreement. Lawmakers repealed the previous version of the law in a 55-2 vote. However, despite the repeal, the government continued stacking Bitcoin, purchasing two BTC in a single day on Feb. 1 and continuing its daily accumulation of the digital currency. On March 3, the IMF issued a new request pressuring El Salvador to stop accumulating BTC and stipulated that the country could not issue debt or tokenized securities tied to Bitcoin.
President Nayib Bukele has been vocal about his stance on Bitcoin, stating that El Salvador will continue buying BTC despite the IMF's demands. Bukele characterized the IMF's continued pressure as "whining" and emphasized that the country's Bitcoin strategy will not be deterred by external pressures. "If it didn’t stop when the world ostracized us and most 'bitcoiners' abandoned us, it won’t stop now, and it won’t stop in the future," Bukele emphatically stated.
El Salvador's unapologetic pro-Bitcoin stance has caused several major crypto firms to announce that they are relocating to the Central American country. On Jan. 7, Bitfinex Derivatives announced it was relocating from Sey 