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El Salvador’s Bitcoin Holdings Continue After IMF Review, but $666 Million Isn’t an IMF Valuation

El Salvador’s IMF reviews are complete, but the Board did not endorse open-ended Bitcoin buying or confirm a $666 million reserve valuation.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings remain in place after the IMF Executive Board completed its combined second and third programme reviews on October 1, 2026. But the Board also said Bitcoin-related performance criteria were missed, granted waivers on the basis of corrective measures and renewed commitments, and said no further accumulation is expected beyond documented donations. The IMF did not value the holdings at $666 million.

What the IMF review decided

On October 1, 2026, the IMF Executive Board completed El Salvador’s combined second and third reviews under its 40-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The decision enabled an immediate disbursement of SDR 101.96 million, about US$138 million. Total access under the arrangement, approved on February 26, 2025, is SDR 1,033.92 million, about US$1.4 billion. These are programme financing figures, not estimates of the country’s Bitcoin holdings. IMF, October 1, 2026

The Bitcoin criterion was not an unqualified pass: the IMF said certain performance criteria on Bitcoin accumulation were not met. The Board granted waivers based on corrective measures and renewed commitments. In other words, the reviews were completed and programme financing was made available, but this was not an endorsement of unrestricted government Bitcoin purchases.

What the IMF expects about further Bitcoin accumulation

The Executive Board release says, “No further Bitcoin accumulation is expected beyond documented donations.” That is the IMF’s stated forward expectation under the programme; it is not a claim that the government has stopped holding Bitcoin.

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In a September 3, 2026 staff-level statement, the IMF said documentation showed that accumulation after the first review came from private donations and used no public resources. That statement preceded final Board approval. The cited IMF statements do not identify donors or establish the coin-by-coin provenance of every donation, so the funding explanation should be understood as the IMF’s account, not an independent disclosure of each transfer. IMF, September 3, 2026

How many bitcoin does El Salvador report holding?

Maketo reported a government-published total of 7,792.374 BTC on October 1, 2026. Its tracker valued that amount at US$658.5 million using a Bitcoin price of US$84,505 on October 2. The dollar amount is a date-specific market estimate from the tracker—not an IMF valuation and not a disclosure of what the government paid to acquire the coins. Maketo holdings tracker

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Market-value estimate US$658.5 million, calculated by Maketo using a US$84,505 Bitcoin price on October 2, 2026 A market-price snapshot, not the IMF’s valuation or the government’s acquisition cost.

The title’s $666 million figure should therefore be treated as a headline-time estimate, not a number confirmed by the IMF. Bitcoin’s market price changes, so any dollar value depends on the price and timestamp used; the cited tracker’s October 2 estimate was US$658.5 million.

Chivo’s transfer is separate from the state’s Bitcoin holdings

The IMF said majority ownership and control of the Chivo e-wallet transferred to a private operator, while residual public exposure remained to be unwound. It separately called for transparent reporting of public-sector crypto holdings. The Chivo change concerns the wallet’s ownership and operation; it does not establish that the sovereign Bitcoin reserve was transferred with it. The IMF release summarized its policy position this way: “The state’s involvement in Bitcoin-related activities is being unwound while related regulations are enhanced.” IMF, October 1, 2026

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What the decision means for Bitcoin oversight

The IMF’s October review pairs its accumulation expectations with calls for more disclosure and stronger oversight. It prioritizes transparent reporting of public-sector crypto holdings and stronger regulation, supervision, and governance of crypto-asset providers. Completion of the reviews is therefore not the same as a finding that all Bitcoin-related risks or disclosure questions have been resolved.

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Historical context: earlier holdings and adoption figures

The IMF’s original 2025 EFF report described 6,070 BTC—around 2 percent of GDP—as managed by the Bitcoin Management Agency. That is a historical programme-report figure, not the current balance. The same report relayed survey findings from the period of peak adoption: 20 percent of firms accepted Bitcoin and 4.9 percent of sales were paid in Bitcoin. Those figures should not be read as current usage estimates. IMF, February 2025 report

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