El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings came back to the table in the latest agreement update from the International Monetary Fund. Following a state-level agreement with local authorities, the IMF staff published its first review under El Salvador’s fund facility arrangement, confirming that the country’s “performance has been strong” in all areas—including Bitcoin.

“On Bitcoin, efforts will continue to ensure that the total amount of Bitcoin held across all government-owned wallets remains unchanged, consistent with program commitments, while also securing the unwinding of the public sector’s participation in the Chivo wallet by end-July,” reads the IMF press release published on May 27.

With this first review, the IMF subscribes to El Salvador’s bitcoin holdings as previously disclosed. As we reported in March, the IMF was auditing the bitcoin holdings, and was aware of the full amount of bitcoin held by the public sector before the agreement was reached.

This has not changed, and so the country is complying with program conditions. The overall ammount remains.

“The authorities have made significant progress in implementing their economic reform plan under the IMF-supported program. Most program targets set for the first review were comfortably met, and implementation of the structural benchmarks is progressing well,” the IMF said.

The $1.4 billion arrangement, approved by the IMF Executive Board on February 26, includes an initial disbursement of $120 million. The new update needs to be approved by the board to continue the funds flow.

In Bitcoin terms, the key reforms include: the removal of bitcoin’s mandatory legal tender status in the Bitcoin Law approved in 2021 and modified in early 2025, the full disclosure of government’s and public sector’s BTC holdings, and the wind-down of the state-run Chivo Wallet. These steps are necessary to access the current disbursement and unlock future financing from other institutions like the World Bank—potentially totaling around $3.5 billion.

Are El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings growing?

El Salvador’s bitcoin holdings in their treasury remain publicly visible through the treasury address that the government regularly promotes on X. By the moment of this publication, they have 6.189,18 BTC there.

Although new purchases may still occur, the IMF review confirms that the final amount held by the state remains unchanged under the terms of the agreement. This is one among the different disclosed address, and the final bitcoin ammount in the overall of the public sector seems to be larger than the ammount in the treasury address but that number is the same as previously informed to the Fund.

This arrangement reflects a diplomatic balancing act. El Salvador continues to post updates to its bitcoin stack, while the IMF maintains its emphasis on transparency, regulatory rollback, and limiting state intervention, with the Bitcoin Law changed and state-led project being left behind.

Both narratives around El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings seem to coexist without direct contradiction between the multilateral organization and the Central American country—at least for now.