By Isaac • September 4, 2026 7:09 pm •
El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserve kept growing after the government agreed to limit public-sector crypto buying. The International Monetary Fund now says it has verified how that happened: private donors supplied the Bitcoin, not taxpayers.
The distinction resolves one part of a long-running clash between the country’s public messaging and the terms of its $1.4 billion IMF program. It also opens a new question that the latest disclosure does not answer: who donated the coins?
In its September 3 statement, the IMF said Salvadoran authorities provided documentation showing that Bitcoin accumulation since the first program review reflected private donations and used no public resources, while also recording an agreement that no further accumulation beyond those documented donations
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