El Salvador just unlocked roughly 138 million USD from the International Monetary Fund after the lender formally waived the country’s breach of its Bitcoin accumulation limits — a decision that keeps the nation’s famous crypto experiment alive, but under strict conditions.
By Marcus Johnson | October 2, 2026
The Hook: Cash Released, Rules Enforced
On October 1, the IMF’s Executive Board completed the second and third reviews of El Salvador’s 40-month, 1.4 billion USD Extended Fund Facility and approved an immediate disbursement of about 138 million USD (Bloomberg reported the amount as 139 million USD). The catch: El Salvador had missed several performance criteria, including the one limiting public-sector Bitcoin accumulation. The board granted waivers anyway, citing corrective measures and renewed commitments from Salvadoran authorities.
For regular Bitcoin holders, this matters because El Salvador remains the world’s most visible state-level Bitcoin adopter. Every IMF decision about the country sends a signal about how far governments can push Bitcoin strategies before international lenders push back — and where the line now sits.
Why the IMF Waived the Bitcoin Breach
The original IMF program placed a continuous restriction on voluntary Bitcoin accumulation by the Salvadoran public sector — meaning purchases or mining, though coins obtained through seizures or forfeitures were excluded. Wallet movements that appeared after the first review raised questions about whether the country was still buying. In September, the IMF said documentation supplied by El Salvador showed the new coins came from private donations, with no public resources used. Donor identities and individual amounts were not made public.
- 138 million USD released — the disbursement (SDR 101.96 million) approved October 1 after two program reviews
- Waiver granted — for missed conditions including the Bitcoin accumulation limit
- Donations, not purchases — documented Bitcoin additions traced to private donors, not public funds
- No return to buying — the IMF states no further accumulation is expected beyond documented donations
That distinction matters. The decision does not authorize a return to government-funded Bitcoin purchases. It is a forward-looking expectation tied to the current agreement — if El Salvador starts buying again with state money, the waiver logic collapses.
The Core Conflict: Shrinking the State’s Crypto Role
Bitcoin is only one piece of the IMF’s conditions. The program has also forced El Salvador to unwind its direct involvement in the Chivo wallet, the state-backed app launched alongside the country’s 2021 Bitcoin Law. By September, majority ownership and operational control of Chivo had moved to a private operator, with the government retaining a minority stake and custodial duties for customer assets. The IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz now says the remaining public-sector involvement “should be fully unwound.”
El Salvador had already amended its Bitcoin Law in 2025, ending mandatory Bitcoin acceptance for private businesses and requiring taxes to be paid in U.S. dollars. The country also faces new disclosure demands: authorities must improve reporting on crypto assets controlled by public bodies and keep updated information on government-controlled wallets. The IMF specifically called for amendments to El Salvador’s Digital Asset Issuance Law and stronger oversight rules for crypto service providers.
Market Implications: A Healthier Economy, a Tamed Bitcoin Strategy
Here is the irony: while the Bitcoin strategy gets clipped, the economy is doing better than expected. The IMF now projects El Salvador’s real GDP to grow 4.5% in 2026 and 4% in 2027, after an estimated 3.9% expansion in 2025. The Fund credits investment, private consumption, remittances, tourism, capital inflows, and improved security. Gross international reserves are projected at 5.35 billion USD in 2026, and the primary fiscal balance is forecast at a surplus of 2.9% of GDP this year.
For the Bitcoin market, the takeaway is nuanced. El Salvador is not dumping its holdings — the coins stay put, subject to disclosure. But the era of a national government buying Bitcoin on the open market, funded by the treasury, is effectively paused for the duration of the program. Bitcoin trades around 86,700 USD as of the latest CoinGecko data, and state-accumulation narratives that once fueled bullish sentiment now carry an asterisk: they are only tolerated when the coins arrive as gifts.
The Verdict: Bitcoin Survives in El Salvador, But on the IMF’s Terms
If you own Bitcoin, the El Salvador story has quietly shifted from “nation-state adoption” to “regulated coexistence.” The country keeps its coins, keeps Bitcoin as legal tender in a voluntary form, and keeps the brand. What it loses is the ability to grow the stack with public money — at least until the 40-month program ends.
Watch two things going forward: whether donation-funded accumulation continues at the same pace, and whether the full unwinding of state involvement in Chivo triggers any sell-off concerns (it should not — custodial duties for customer assets remain). The bigger signal is for other governments watching from the sidelines: the IMF will not force a Bitcoin sell-off, but it will absolutely cap the experiment.
The cryptocurrency market remains highly volatile. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
they breached the bitcoin accumulation limit and the IMF just… waived it. 138 million dollars for bending the rules lol
Bloomberg has it at 139 million, tiny detail but shows how loose the reporting is. Either way Bukele kept the BTC stack and unlocked the tranche
138m for giving up the one thing that made the experiment interesting. IMF really did buy the wallet keys off bukele huh
obedience lol. they still hold 6,400+ BTC and sold nothing, try again
kept the stack but they had to stop buying to unlock the tranche. that is the experiment on ice, not alive. the wallet still exists, the accumulation is what made it interesting
second and third reviews approved at the same time on a 40 month facility. the IMF wants this program alive more than El Salvador does at this point
People forget they already stopped accumulating back in january and the IMF still sat on this tranche for months. 138M buys a lot of obedience.
cheap for the IMF maybe. for el salvador that 138M is another year of bond market credibility they badly need
The strict conditions part is doing heavy lifting here. Wait for the next review when they push to wind down the chivo wallet too
chivo barely functions anyway, half the atms have been dead since 2023. winding it down would be a mercy, nobody under 40 uses it
10 percent of the whole 1.4 billion facility unlocked for one waiver. Bukele basically negotiated a discount on his own rules and the IMF paid it