El Salvador accelerates Bitcoin buying following IMF deal

El Salvador increased its Bitcoin purchases a day after agreeing to an International Monetary Fund agreement requiring government-led crypto activities to be scaled back.

The first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender and host the Bitcoin strategic reserve added 11 BTC to its holdings on December 19, worth over $1 million. With the latest acquisition, the country’s total holdings now stand at over 5,980 Bitcoins, currently worth over $577 million, according to the National Bitcoin Office’s tracker.

So far, El Salvador’s Bitcoin accumulation has followed the steady pace of the “1 Bitcoin a Day” program that President Nayib Bukele launched after making the cryptocurrency legal tender in 2022.

But the latest purchase deviated from the strategy and was in line with the National Bitcoin Office’s plans to continue purchasing Bitcoin at an “accelerated pace,” as Stacy Herbert, director of the Bitcoin office, confirmed on December 19.

This follows a yet-to-be-ratified $1.4 billion IMF agreement that mandated changes to the country’s Bitcoin policy. The global regulator has repeatedly warned of the economic risks that Bitcoin adoption could pose to the country’s financial stability.

As part of the deal, El Salvador agreed to remove mandatory requirements for businesses to accept Bitcoin, make it optional and limit tax payments to US dollars. Additionally, the country will also discontinue the Chivo crypto wallet, which was launched in 2021 as the country’s government-backed platform to facilitate Bitcoin transactions.

Still, according to Herbert, the country will continue to accept Bitcoin as legal tender and expand its efforts to solidify its position as a Bitcoin-focused economy. This includes developing Bitcoin capital markets, supporting educational programs, and supporting private sector Bitcoin wallets to serve the growing ecosystem.

Additionally, initiatives such as blockchain developer training and financial literacy programs will continue to be central to El Salvador’s Bitcoin strategy as governments around the world become increasingly intrigued by Bitcoin, spurred by US President Donald Trump’s plan to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Regulators in Brazil, in particular, have proposed allocating 5% of the country’s $370 billion treasury to the Bitcoin strategic reserve. Elsewhere, a member of the Russian parliament called on Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to consider a similar approach.

Last month, Polish minister Sławomir Mentzen also floated the idea of ​​Poland holding Bitcoin in order to make the country more crypto-friendly.