Bukele Holds 6494 Bitcoin as IMF Deal Ends Compulsory Acceptance
El Salvador bitcoin holdings top $600 million by May 2026 as the IMF programme curbs mandatory acceptance and new dollar tax rules reshape the experiment. The post Bukele Holds 6494 Bitcoin as IMF Deal Ends Compulsory Acceptance appeared first on The Rio Times .
El Salvador's government accumulated 6494 Bitcoin under an IMF agreement that ended compulsory acceptance of the cryptocurrency. Legal reforms took effect in May 2025, and the Bitcoin Office reported a $620 million Bitcoin reserve as of mid-2026. The IMF's 40-month, $1.4 billion program required the public sector to stop voluntarily accumulating Bitcoin and phase out the Chivo digital wallet by July 2025.
Taxis, merchants and tax payments now exclusively use US dollars, making Bitcoin a voluntary payment method. Despite this, the Bitcoin Office continued to acquire Bitcoin at a rate of roughly 1 BTC per day, resulting in a $386 million unrealized gain.
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