El Salvador Doubles Down on Bitcoin—IMF’s $1.4B Deal Be Damned

Nayib Bukele’s government just flipped the bird to traditional finance—again. While the IMF handed El Salvador a $1.4 billion lifeline, the country kept stacking sats like a cypherpunk with a death wish.

No brakes on the Bitcoin train: The Central American nation bought another 500 BTC this week, pushing its total holdings past 3,000 coins. That’s roughly $200 million at current prices—chump change for Wall Street, but a giant middle finger to monetary orthodoxy.

Meanwhile in Washington: IMF bureaucrats are clutching their pearls over ’risky fiscal policies.’ Because obviously, printing trillions of dollars with no collateral is the height of responsibility.

Bukele’s gamble? Either Bitcoin moons and El Salvador becomes the crypto capital of the Global South—or it crashes and burns spectacularly. Either way, it’ll be one hell of a show.

Hayem’s statement comes as the country faces scrutiny over how it’s implementing its Bitcoin Law. A report by El Mundo had earlier found that nearly 90% of the crypto firms registered in El Salvador are not operating. The Central Reserve Bank listed only 20 out of 181 registered providers as active, while the rest are marked “non-operating.”

At least 22 of the inactive companies may have failed to meet regulatory requirements under Article 4 of the Bitcoin Law Regulation, which requires providers to operate with “high standards of integrity and honesty” and maintain AML programs, asset records, and cybersecurity systems.