El Salvador's Bitcoin reserve reaches 7,807 BTC as IMF loan limits state purchases
In brief
- El Salvador's Bitcoin reserve stood at 7,807 BTC by October 16, per Crypto Briefing.
- Reserve value: roughly $640–$650 million, with Bitcoin trading around $82,000.
- Holdings grew by more than 1,700 BTC since the $1.4 billion IMF program began in early 2025.
- The IMF says recent additions are private donations, not government purchases.
How the reserve grew
El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar in September 2021 and began buying coins for the national treasury. Crypto Briefing reports the government has followed a policy of acquiring one BTC per day, a practice it says began that same month.
When the IMF program started in early 2025, the reserve held roughly 6,070 BTC, based on the same published wallet data cited by Crypto Briefing. Holdings have grown by more than 1,700 BTC since.
Anyone can check the balance.
The National Bitcoin Office publishes the wallet addresses that hold the reserve, and Crypto Briefing noted that most governments holding Bitcoin (often from seizures) don't offer a live view of their balances.
What the IMF deal requires
The $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility came with conditions. Chief among them were limits on public sector Bitcoin purchases. The agreement also required El Salvador to drop Bitcoin's legal-tender status, and the government rescinded it.
So how is the reserve still growing? The IMF's position, as characterized by Crypto Briefing, is that recent additions are private donations rather than purchases made with government resources. The Fund has indicated it doesn't expect growth beyond those private contributions.
Bukele's administration, for its part, has continued to present the reserve-accumulation strategy as ongoing.
Where the tension sits
Crypto Briefing's analysis points to two pressure points. If the IMF were to conclude that public resources were involved after all, the publication wrote, the classification of those additions could become a sticking point in future program reviews.
The second is price. A reserve of this size can swing sharply in dollar terms in either direction, and that's the kind of Bitcoin volatility the IMF has historically flagged when assessing El Salvador's finances, according to Crypto Briefing.
Frequently asked questions
How is El Salvador's Bitcoin reserve still growing under the IMF loan?
The $1.4 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility included limits on public sector Bitcoin purchases. As characterized by Crypto Briefing, the IMF's position is that recent additions are private donations, not purchases made with government resources, and the Fund has indicated it doesn't expect growth beyond those private contributions.
How much Bitcoin does El Salvador hold?
By October 16, El Salvador's national reserve held 7,807 BTC, according to Crypto Briefing's reading of wallet addresses published by the National Bitcoin Office. That was worth roughly $640–$650 million with Bitcoin trading around $82,000, up from roughly 6,070 BTC when the IMF program began in early 2025.
Why could the reserve become an issue in future IMF reviews?
Crypto Briefing wrote that if the IMF concluded public resources were involved in the additions, their classification could become a sticking point in future program reviews. The IMF has also historically flagged Bitcoin price volatility when assessing El Salvador's finances.
