Bukele Dismisses IMF Terms, Vows El Salvador’s Bitcoin Strategy ‘Won’t Stop’

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has publicly refuted terms laid out by the IMF to secure a $1.4 billion December loan agreement, just days after the global financial watchdog announced new requirements that seek to apply pressure to the Central American nation.

“‘This all stops in April.’ This all stops in June.’ This all stops in December.’ No, it’s not stopping,” Bukele wrote Tuesday in a post on X.

The new rules set by the IMF’s March 2025 country report this week, seek to establish a “continuous quantitative performance criteria” with a “ceiling of 0” on government Bitcoin purchases.

The IMF agreement mandates liquidation of the Fidebitcoin trust fund by July 2025, termination of government participation in the Chivo wallet system, and publication of all government Bitcoin wallet addresses.

In other words, the terms compel the region’s smallest nation to follow the rules by halting its Bitcoin buys to receive funding in tranches over an extended period, or risk torpedoing the country’s Extended Fund Facility program.

Bukele’s defiance coincided with the country’s Bitcoin Office announcing the addition of 1 BTC to its national reserves on Tuesday, bringing El Salvador’s total holdings to 6,101 BTC ($510 million), data from Arkham Intelligence shows.

While there has been criticism of how Bukele runs El Salvador, the president has found support among Bitcoin stakeholders, including Strategy chairman Michael Saylor.

“Bitcoin adoption is unstoppable,” Saylor posted to X in response to Bukele’s tweet.

The purchase of Bitcoin using public funds from El Salvador’s national treasury has previously run afoul with the global watchdog.

In 2022, the IMF urged El Salvador to discontinue Bitcoin’s status as legal tender, citing risks to financial stability and consumer protections after the country approved its use in September 2021.

In October last year during discussions for the loan, the IMF recommended narrowing the scope of the country’s Bitcoin Law, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and limiting public sector exposure to the asset.

That had followed multiple downgrades of the country’s credit rating by agencies Fitch and Moody’s in February and September 2022.

“If it didn’t stop when the world ostracized us and most ‘Bitcoiners’ abandoned us, it won’t stop now, and it won’t stop in the future,” Bukele wrote Tuesday. “Proof of work > proof of whining.”

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair