Did El Salvador continue to “buy” Bitcoin despite the IMF?No! As I have written previously many times, the IMF agreement with El Salvador states that there will be no use of public sector funds for Bitcoin. The agreement with the IMF is 100% clear, no more Bitcoin. There is no hidden agreement or magical method use by El Salvador to negotiate with the IMF that would still allow for purchases using public money. To repeat, what this means is the use of public fiscal resources, in other words, taxes, government budget revenues, debt raised by the central government, and the likes, cannot be used for Bitcoin.
Bitcoiners who still think that despite all the comments and the written agreement made between El Salvador and the IMF that President Bukele would still overtly buy Bitcoin using public money in clear and overt violation of the agreements are poster children of the phrase “ignorance is bliss”. How can it be rationalized and not questioned by Bitcoiners that such overt lies and statements by President Bukele and the Bitcoin Office in contravention of the IMF agreement are not wholly inconsistent with the transparency, high moral premise and uprightness espoused in the ideals of Bitcoin… being “honest” money? Does morality stop if it promotes Bitcoin?
I also hear Bitcoiners saying that the evidence that El Salvador is still buying Bitcoin is reflected in the blockchain data posted by the Bitcoin Office. While I am not an expert, I understand that these transactions only show that additional Bitcoin were moved to one of the SBR wallets. The details do not show how Bitcoin was acquired or how it was paid for or if the accumulation was simply a wallet transfer, donation, confiscation or otherwise.The IMF is aware of this data and has still confirmed that regardless of how the Bitcoin Office is falsely characterizing the accumulation as being “bought”, the reality is that they are not purchases or involve use of the government’s public fiscal money.
Yikes, I did not know Bukele was intentionally hiding the IMF deal until the last minute:
Let’s look at the extensive secrecy imposed over the release of info to the public by the government and how sensitive President Bukele is to the release of any information concerning the deep financial, fiscal and economic troubles of El Salvador. El Salvador blocked the release of any information from the IMF Article IV review of the country in 2023. This is extremely unusual as it is normal for information to be released apart from any small element that might be considered highly sensitive to national security. I have not seen cases where the entire report and even the press release were withheld.IMF policy is to disclose everything possible, but this can only be done if the government agrees. And, El Salvador doesn’t like to agree with this policy as their strategy is to follow an absence of transparency. The 2023 report was only subsequently released the report in March 2025 after the IMF loan agreement because they pushed El Salvador to agree.