El Salvador's bitcoin stack keeps ticking up as the IMF looks on

El Salvador's national Bitcoin reserve is still growing, quietly and steadily, even as the International Monetary Fund maintains that no new coins are being bought.

Government wallets tracked by Arkham Intelligence added 6 $BTC over the past week, keeping the roughly $468 million stack growing at close to the advertised pace of one bitcoin a day. Tracker-based counts put national holdings at around 7,700 BTC as of July, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net data. That represents growth from around 5,968 BTC recorded at the program's December 2024 start.

What the IMF deal actually says

The IMF's Extended Fund Facility, approved by the Fund's Executive Board in early 2025, includes a continuous quantitative performance criterion with a zero ceiling on voluntary BTC accumulation by the public sector. These are not aspirational targets. They are performance criteria tied to disbursement, and missing them has consequences.

President Nayib Bukele's government has continued pushing a narrative about buying one BTC a day to build its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The IMF's response has been consistent: the on-chain growth does not represent new market purchases. IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack offered an explanation in July 2025, stating that apparent increases in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund reflect "movements across various government-owned wallets," not net new market purchases by the public sector.

A convenient ambiguity for both sides

Loan disbursements have continued to flow, and neither side appears eager to force a confrontation.

The IMF said in May 2025 that "efforts will continue" to make sure that the total amount of Bitcoin held by El Salvador's government does not change, phrasing that signals ongoing scrutiny rather than a settled compliance verdict. Meanwhile, the episode is establishing a live precedent: a sovereign can maintain a Bitcoin treasury, and grow its publicly tracked reserve, while inside an active IMF program, as long as broader macroeconomic targets stay on track.

For now, the Bitcoin Office keeps publishing daily purchase announcements, the blockchain keeps recording inflows, and the IMF keeps calling it consolidation.

Sources:
Yahoo Finance: El Salvador Claims It's Buying Bitcoin Daily, But the IMF Disagrees
CoinDesk: IMF Says 'Efforts Will Continue' to Ensure El Salvador Doesn't Accumulate More BTC
FinanceFeeds: El Salvador Bitcoin Holdings