El Salvador Defies IMF—Doubles Down on Bitcoin Bet Despite Pressure

While traditional finance clutches its pearls, El Salvador keeps stacking sats. The IMF can’t seem to shake President Bukele’s iron grip on the country’s Bitcoin treasury—even as the fund warns of ’macroeconomic risks.’

Who needs IMF approval when you’ve got laser eyes and a 1,800 BTC stash? Meanwhile, Wall Street still can’t decide if crypto is a scam or its next revenue stream.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin embrace

Despite this, the Central American country has aggressively acquired more Bitcoin over the past few months.

For context, the government added at least eight more BTC to its coffers in the past week alone and has shown no sign of slowing down.

El Salvador’s national Bitcoin office confirmed the country now holds nearly 6,190 BTC. At current prices, this stash is worth over $674 million and has generated unrealized profits of more than $200 million.

President Nayib Bukele, the principal architect of El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin, has remained firm on the policy.

He has dismissed external pressure and consistently emphasized the economic gains achieved under his administration’s BTC-first approach.

Stacy Herbert, who leads the Bitcoin office, reinforced this stance. She said the government is actively shaping the legal and financial infrastructure needed to attract capital by adopting the top crypto.

She stated:

“We are working to build the robust capital markets needed for an economic miracle to happen: with both our proposed legislation to attract international capital as well as our work establishing the world’s first Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and encouraging a government policy of aggressive bitcoin accumulation.”