Is El Salvador Lying? IMF Claims the Country Is Not Buying Bitcoin Every Day

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s first program review report published on July 15, the government of El Salvador has not made any new Bitcoin purchases since February 2025.

This information was revealed in an official letter signed by the country's Central Bank President, Douglas Pablo Rodríguez Fuentes, and Finance Minister, Jerson Rogelio Posada Molina, and submitted to the IMF.

The letter states that El Salvador's public sector Bitcoin holdings “have not changed.” Attached documents note that the country's hot and cold wallet addresses have been handed over to the IMF for auditing and monitoring purposes.

This statement clearly contradicts previous statements by President Nayib Bukele and El Salvador's Bitcoin Office, which claimed that 1 BTC has been purchased daily since November 2022. The Bukele administration claims that the country's BTC reserves have reached approximately 6,242 BTC, worth around $737 million. Blockchain analysis firm Arkham also provided on-chain data confirming daily transfers of 1 BTC from wallets labeled Binance and Bitfinex.

However, the IMF report suggests that these transfers are not new purchases, but rather a consolidation of existing Bitcoin holdings in government wallets. A footnote in the report states, “Increases in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund are due to the consolidation of Bitcoins held in different government wallets.”

President Bukele has repeatedly stated that they will continue to buy Bitcoin, despite reaching a $1.4 billion loan agreement with the IMF. In a post on social media platform X, he said, “Even when the world ostracized us and many abandoned us, these purchases didn't stop; they won't stop now, and they won't stop in the future.”

Stacy Herbert, director of the Bitcoin Office, argued in a March post on X that El Salvador continued to buy Bitcoin despite the IMF agreement. Herbert said, “Some ‘Bitcoin’ supporters are relying on the IMF’s word rather than El Salvador’s purchases recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain.”

*This is not investment advice.