The Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, raised his eyebrows among the observers of the industry on March 4 when he said that bitcoin's purchases of his government will not stop, despite the requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
El Salvador reached a loan agreement of $ 1.4 billion with the IMF in January with the condition that it returns to the adoption of bitcoin (btc) and declassifies it as a compulsory legal tender.
On March 3, the IMF published a report that describes the terms of the agreement, noting that it would prohibit the public accumulation of bitcoin, that is, the government or the entities controlled by the government could not buy bitcoin or extract it. Bukele, apparently challenging, said his country would continue to accumulate bitcoin anyway.
The apparent conflict between bitcoin's plans of Bukele and the terms of the IMF has generated questions about the future of the accumulation of bitcoin of El Salvador and the possible consequences of a conflict with the lender.
Fountain: <a target="_blank" data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/nayibbukele/status/1897019629702410551″ rel=”null” target=”null” text=”null” title=”https://x.com/nayibbukele/status/1897019629702410551″>Nayib Bukele
bitcoin's recent purchase of Bukele not necessarily “conflict” with the IMF agreement
Among the many details contained in the collection of documents that the IMF published on March 3, a particular clause caught the attention of the bitcoiners, namely that “there will be no voluntary accumulation of bitcoins by the public sector in the context of the program.”
Bukele took x on March 4, stating that bitcoin's accumulation “does not stop”, since the country bought another currency to add its national reserves.

El Salvador buys another bitcoin for his reservation on March 4. Fountain: <a target="_blank" data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/bitcoinofficesv/status/1897000044332716089/photo/1″ rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” text=”null” title=”https://x.com/bitcoinofficesv/status/1897000044332716089/photo/1″>bitcoin National Office of El Salvador
The apparent contradiction caught the attention of Samson Mow, CEO of the bitcoin Adoption Defense Organization, Jan3, who <a target="_blank" data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/Excellion/status/1897057841401516344″ rel=”null” target=”null” text=”null” title=”null”>fixed In a March 5 publication that “the two things seem to be in conflict with each other.”
The IMF requirement on bitcoin's public investment, and Bukele's subsequent comments was a shock for many.
But as John Dennehy, an activist and educator of bitcoin based in El Salvador, <a target="_blank" data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/i/spaces/1PlKQMBDZoMKE” rel=”null” target=”null” text=”null” title=”null”>noted In a space of March 4 x with Cointelegraph, the changes that the IMF required for the law has not yet entered.
“The law, which was approved on January 29 and published in the Official Gazette the next day, which rescinds bitcoin as a legal tender, comes into force on April 30,” he said.
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Unseen Finance, an anonymous finance commentator who claims to have previous experience in the IMF and investment bank, said bitcoin's purchases could be leftovers.
They suggested that there could be “some groups of remaining funds, perhaps assigned in the government in some sub -accounts of different agencies, entities, perhaps even some state companies, which had been assigned and reserved.”
Unseen Finance said in separate comments to Cointelegraph that El Salvador could be buying “additional bitcoin” as a way to appease the “” posse of bitcoin “and as an appearance of 'saving his face'”.
According to Reuters, the IMF itself <a target="_blank" data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/el-salvador-announces-more-bitcoin-purchases-gives-imf-assurances-2025-03-05/” rel=”null” target=”null” text=”null” title=”null”>saying That the purchase did not break the terms of the agreement, stating that he had consulted the Salvadoran government on the matter.
“We consulted with the authorities (Salvadorans), and they have assured us that the recent increase in bitcoin's holdings in the bitcoin Reserve Fund is consistent with the conditionality of the agreed program,” the IMF told Reuters.
Why did El Salvador come to a deal with the IMF?
Despite Bukele's claims “<a target="_blank" data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/ravikaash/status/1897611878571868650″ rel=”null” target=”null” text=”null” title=”null”>Challenging“The IMF in an attempt to defend the adoption of bitcoin, the commentators have indicated that the Salvadoran government approached the IMF in itself and agreed the terms of the loan.
“El Salvador approached the IMF for the loan and not vice versa. Let me clarify that 100%. The policy will follow the text of the (loan agreement), nothing more, ”said Unseen Finance.
With such strong rhetoric and advertising that surround bitcoin's efforts in the country, many market observers have questioned why exactly Bukele came to the treatment.
Dennehy said that “the justification for holding this agreement in the first place, as they make it quite clear for this document, is because they had to do it.”
He said that El Salvador's national debt has increased “quite significantly” in the last five years, but Salvadorans are “under the impression that the debt has been stable or has been decreasing.”

El Salvador's national debt as a percentage of GDP. Fountain: World Bank
According to Dennehy, the government has “done a great marketing job” a debt of debt, which paid to assume mainly new debts with higher interest rates.
Unseen Finance said the economy was in “a terrible narrow (and) continues in such a serious narrow.” You know, poverty increases. Many elements “.
Related: bitcoin is not a decent reservation asset, Swiss National Bank president says: Report
The precarious economic situation and the importance of the loan means that the Savior cannot risk entering the IMF. Unseen Finance said the government is not playing or “pushing limits” with the IMF.
“They have no questions, and there is no absence of clarity, and they completely know that any clear step on that line will cause irreparable damage to the country. There is no other option. “
The imminent deadline of April 30, the nominal amount of recent purchases of bitcoin, and the comments of the IMF to Reuters suggest that the Savior has not violated the agreement and that purchases are not a decisive factor.
Even so, according to invisible finances, “regardless of the nominal activity, the IMF will have some acute questions for these small games.”
Bukele's exact intentions are not yet clear, but it seems that he has little to win in front of the face with the IMF on bitcoin.
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