Throughout 2025, the government of El Salvador continuously claimed to be buying one Bitcoin every day. However, the latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) directly denied this information.
The report dated July 15, part of the IV Consultation and the first review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program worth $1.4 billion approved since December 2024, affirms that El Salvador has not made any new Bitcoin purchases since the program was approved.
"The total amount of Bitcoin held by the public sector has remained unchanged since the program was approved," the IMF stated.
Nevertheless, throughout 2025, President Nayib Bukele and the National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador have consistently posted on social media that the country is buying Bitcoin every day.
Public wallets show an increasing balance, while tweets from the government reinforce the belief that Bitcoin purchases are ongoing.
On March 4, President Bukele announced on social media that the 'buy Bitcoin every day' program is still being implemented. At the same time, the Bitcoin Office stated that the amount of Bitcoin held has exceeded 6,102 BTC – a number widely circulated by many news sites and the cryptocurrency community.
However, according to the official assessment report from the IMF, the reality is not so.
What actually happened?
The IMF stated that the increase in the government's Bitcoin wallet balance is due to internal restructuring among state-owned wallets – not due to new purchase transactions.
These activities create the impression that the government is continuing to buy, while in reality, there have been no purchases in the market.
The report also mentions 'some minor fluctuations' in the government's Chivo e-wallet balance, but asserts that this is due to internal technical adjustments, unrelated to the use of public funds.
Simply put: no tax money from the people of El Salvador was used to buy more Bitcoin in 2025.
Questions about transparency and trust.
This information raises serious questions about the transparency and reliability of the El Salvador government – a country that shocked the world in 2021 when it announced the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender.
However, by January 2025, under pressure from international financial organizations and a weak budget situation, El Salvador reversed this policy – removing Bitcoin's legal tender status and committing not to use public funds to purchase more digital assets.
New findings from the IMF indicate that El Salvador is currently adhering to its financial commitments.
Chivo wallets are under tight surveillance.
The IMF also noted 'minor discrepancies' in the implementation of performance criteria, mainly stemming from irregularities in the Chivo wallet system. The government of El Salvador has agreed to completely end public sector intervention in Chivo wallets by July 31, 2025.
This is part of an overall effort to enhance fiscal transparency and market discipline under the IMF support program.
The government has also committed to publicly disclose the financial information of state-owned enterprises while moving towards dissolving the public Bitcoin fund – Fidebitcoin.
As the deadline for transferring Chivo to the private sector approaches, the global Bitcoin community will closely monitor whether El Salvador will keep its promises – or continue to maintain a narrative that does not match reality.