IMF Strong-Arms El Salvador Into Bitcoin Backpedal—$120M Deal Comes With Strings Attached

El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment hits a snag as the IMF flexes its financial muscle. The global lender’s $120 million lifeline demands ’efforts’ to curb state-backed BTC purchases—because nothing says ’economic sovereignty’ like a centralized watchdog dictating your crypto policy.

Here’s the kicker: The same institution that once called Bitcoin ’a step too far’ now holds the purse strings. Guess even anarcho-capitalist dreams have a price tag—and it’s apparently $120 million plus compliance.

Pro tip for emerging economies: Your monetary revolution looks adorable when it’s bankrolled by traditional finance. Now watch as the world’s first Bitcoin nation walks the IMF’s tightrope—volcano bonds optional.

El Salvador again defies IMF

Shortly after the IMF’s May 27 announcement, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office posted to X that the country had once again purchased more Bitcoin.

The country’s official Bitcoin tracker shows that El Salvador is continuing with Bitcoin-buying through the Bitcoin Office, which has accumulated 30 BTC in the past 30 days.

Currently, El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserve stands at 6,190.18 BTC.

Last week, Bukele took to the social media platform X to reveal that the nation’s Bitcoin treasury is sitting at an unrealized profit of $386 million, a 132% gain on its total Bitcoin investment.

In April, Rodrigo Valdes, director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the IMF, said that the country is complying with the IMF’s performance criteria.

Author and intergovernmental blockchain adviser Anndy Lian suggested that the country could maintain technical compliance by purchasing Bitcoin through non-government entities.