🇸🇻 El Salvador Just Got Another IMF Disbursement — And Bitcoin Is Part of the Story
The IMF Executive Board has completed El Salvador’s second and third program reviews, unlocking an immediate disbursement of about $138 million.
But the Bitcoin part is what caught the crypto market’s attention.
El Salvador did not fully meet certain Bitcoin-related performance criteria, and the IMF granted waivers based on corrective measures and renewed commitments.
There’s another important detail.
IMF staff says documentation was provided showing that Bitcoin accumulated since the first review came from private donations, rather than public resources. Going forward, the IMF says no additional Bitcoin accumulation beyond those documented donations is expected.
At the same time, the government’s Chivo e-wallet has moved to majority private ownership and operational control, another part of the reform program.
So the bigger picture is more nuanced than simply:
“IMF approved money because El Salvador bought Bitcoin.”
The latest agreement actually combines Bitcoin-related restrictions, transparency requirements, Chivo privatization and broader fiscal reforms.
For the crypto market, the interesting question is what this means for the relationship between sovereign Bitcoin adoption and traditional financial institutions.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment is clearly still evolving. 👀
