Shocking IMF Report Exposes El Salvador’s 2025 Bitcoin Purchase Claims as Fabricated
El Salvador's bold crypto gambit just hit a credibility wall—turns out their 2025 Bitcoin buying spree never happened.
The IMF's latest report pulls back the curtain on Nayib Bukele's financial theater, revealing gaping holes in the country's crypto narrative. No blockchain receipts, no wallet movements—just old-fashioned fiscal smoke and mirrors.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin maximalists face their 'I told you so' moment as the sovereign adoption playbook gets rewritten in real-time. Another case of governments treating crypto like a PR prop rather than actual policy.
Funny how these 'revolutionary' financial moves always seem to coincide with election cycles and debt refinancing. The IMF might need to add a new category: creative crypto accounting.
IMF Reveals El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bluff
The July 15 report, part of the IMF’s Article IV consultation and first program review, makes clear that El Salvador has not bought any new bitcoin since the $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) was approved in December 2024.
“The overall stock of Bitcoin held by the public sector has remained unchanged since program approval,” the IMF stated.
Throughout the year, President Nayib Bukele and El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office continued to post on social media that the country was accumulating Bitcoin—one per day.
Public-facing wallets showed an increase in holdings, and government tweets reinforced the idea of ongoing purchases.
Turns out the IMF did in fact make El Salvador stop Bitcoin purchases in order to get a fiat loan.
Footnote #9 states they have just been making it appear as if they have been continuing to buy but in fact have just been consolidating multi government wallets.
Source :… pic.twitter.com/46AFU1oi08
On March 4, Bukele posted that the daily Bitcoin buying program was still active and WOULD continue.
Around the same time, the Bitcoin Office claimed holdings exceeded 6,102 BTC. The media cited these numbers, which were widely repeated in crypto circles.
However, the IMF debunked this story in its official program review.
What Actually Happened
According to the Fund, the rise in Bitcoin wallet balances came from internal movements between government-owned wallets—not new purchases.
These wallet consolidations gave thebut reflected no fresh market activity.
The report also disclosed “small fluctuations” in Bitcoin deposits in the government’s Chivo e-wallet. These, too, were addressed through internal corrective measures, not additional public funds.
Put simply,.
Yet, this discrepancy raises serious questions about transparency and trust. El Salvador made global headlines in 2021 by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender.
However, in January 2025, the country reversed course under pressure from international lenders and with a fragile fiscal position.
More specifically, it stripped Bitcoin of legal tender status and agreed not to use public resources to acquire more.
The IMF’s new findings confirm that El Salvador is honoring its financial commitments.
Chivo Under Fire
The IMF report also cited “minor deviations” in performance criteria due to irregularities in the Chivo system. The Salvadoran government has agreed to.
Bitcoin Versus The IMF
In this new report, we explain how the IMF is both obsessed with Bitcoin & vehemently anti-Bitcoin. In the El Salvador IMF country reports, Bitcoin is the second most common word #Bitcoin is mentioned 319 times in two reports!! pic.twitter.com/12QkN4OEYK
This MOVE aligns with a broader push for fiscal transparency and market discipline under the Fund-supported program.
Also, the government has committed to publishing financial information for state-owned enterprises and to unwind the public Bitcoin trust, Fidebitcoin.
As the end-of-July deadline for privatizing Chivo approaches, the Bitcoin community will be watching to see if El Salvador follows through—or keeps spinning a narrative at odds with the facts.
