El Salvador added $1 million worth of Bitcoin in just one day — just one day after signing a $1.4 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund that puts limits on its handling of the cryptocurrency.
The country’s National Bitcoin Office wrote in a December 19 X post that it has “transferred over one million USD worth of Bitcoin into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” with its website showing it has added 11 Bitcoin (BTC) to its holdings.
This move breaks a long string of adding 'one Bitcoin a day,' which President Nayib Bukele announced in November 2022, bringing the country's Bitcoin holdings to 5,980.77 BTC, worth approximately $580 million, with BTC trading around $97K.
Director of the National Bitcoin Office Stacy Herbert stated in a post on X on December 19 that El Salvador 'will continue to buy Bitcoin (possibly at an accelerated pace).
On December 18, Bukele's government reached a financial agreement with the IMF, requiring this country's government to ease some Bitcoin transactions to receive $1.4 billion from this global lending organization over the next 40 months.
The IMF stated that as part of the agreement, activities, transactions, and purchases of Bitcoin led by the government of El Salvador will be 'limited.'
This country also agreed to make the acceptance of Bitcoin in the private sector voluntary, only allowing taxes to be paid in US dollars and reducing government involvement in the Chivo cryptocurrency wallet.
A spokesperson for the Bitcoin Office told TinTucBitcoin at that time that they 'will continue to buy one Bitcoin a day (possibly even more in the future), and we will not sell any current assets' and added that 'Bitcoin continues to be our main strategy.'
El Salvador is the first country to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021, and Herbert stated that this policy will not change.
Source: Stacy Herbert
She added that the Chivo wallet issued by the government 'will be sold or cease operations' and expects private sector Bitcoin wallets to 'continue to serve El Salvador.'
The IMF Board of Directors still needs to approve the agreement with this country, which would mark the end of four years of tense negotiations due to Bukele's Bitcoin policies, which the IMF believes put the country at risk.