El Salvador Increases Bitcoin Reserve by 19 BTC
Date: 2025-03-05 Author: Henry Casey Categories: IN WORLD
CoinDesk recalled that on February 26, the country signed an Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement with the IMF in the amount of $1.4 billion for a period of 40 months. The program is aimed at eliminating macroeconomic imbalances, and its goal is to reduce public debt to 81% of GDP by 2029, while economic growth is projected to be in the range of 2.5-3%.
The first tranche of funding amounted to $113 million, but one of the conditions of the agreement was a ban on voluntary accumulation of bitcoin by the public sector. In anticipation of the signing of the treaty, El Salvador amended its bitcoin law: private companies are no longer required to accept the cryptocurrency as payment, and its status as a legal tender was revoked.
According to the IMF, bitcoin is used in the country to a limited extent, due to the asset's high volatility and insufficient trust among the population.
At the moment, the Salvadoran authorities have purchased a total of 6,101 BTC at an average price of $46,517 per coin. The market value of this reserve is estimated at $533.4 million.
El Salvador became the first country to recognize bitcoin as an official means of payment in September 2021. After that, businesses were required to accept payments in cryptocurrency, and to stimulate its use, the government launched the Chivo wallet and paid residents $30 for registration. Later, the country began regular purchases of bitcoin and launched mining.
Earlier, it was reported that US President Donald Trump had formed a working group on digital assets, which, among other things, will study the possibility of creating a national cryptocurrency reserve.
