The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Tuesday that “the endeavor continues” to ensure that the total amount of Bitcoin
Held by El Salvador’s government does not change.
Back in March, El Salvador reached an agreement with the IMF to receive a $ 3.5 billion loan package. Some of the conditions for this agreement concerned Bitcoin: For example, Cryptocurrency officially lost its status as a legal tender, which means that merchants no longer have to accept the currency on a mandatory basis.
One of the conditions for the package according to the IMF was the ban on “voluntary accumulation of Bitcoin from the public sector.” In theory, it should mean that the Government of Bukele would not have permission to continue to accumulate Bitcoin if it would continue to comply with the loan program.
Nevertheless, El Salvador has continued to buy more bitcoin in apparent contradiction with the conditions of the agreement. On March 4, when the conditions for the agreement became known, the Salvadoran government held 6,101.15 Bitcoin in its official wallet. From writing, this number has risen to 6,189.18 Bitcoin, an amount worth approx. 678 million dollars.
“No, it doesn’t stop,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted on March 4th. “If it didn’t stop when the world depleted us and most ‘Bitcoiners’ abandoned us, it won’t stop now and it won’t stop in the future.”
The IMF did not appear to recognize any contradiction or friction in its note. In fact, it said the program benefit had been strong and that the most important fiscal goals and reserve goals were met.
“The IMF staff thank the Salvadoran authorities for the excellent cooperation and constructive discussions,” the report said.
