The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has unlocked roughly $138 million in immediate financing for El Salvador, after its Executive Board completed the second and third reviews under the country's 40-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF), according to the fund's October 1 statement.

As part of the review process, the Board approved a waiver connected to the program's limits on public-sector Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation, clearing the way for the disbursement. IMF waivers are issued when a member country is granted relief from a program performance criterion; in this case, the headline indicates the relief concerned the government's Bitcoin holdings.

The EFF, approved in December 2024, gives El Salvador access to approximately $1.4 billion over 40 months, of which the newly unlocked roughly $138 million forms a part. The arrangement was accompanied by commitments to strengthen public finances and reserves, alongside measures to scale back the state's role in Bitcoin. Under the program, acceptance of BTC by private businesses was made voluntary, the government committed to gradually winding down the state-operated Chivo wallet, and public-sector involvement in new Bitcoin transactions was restricted. Together, those conditions set the boundaries of the state's role in Bitcoin for the life of the program.

El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021, under President Nayib Bukele. Since November 2022, the government has purchased at least one BTC per day as part of its "1 BTC per day" accumulation strategy, and holdings tracked by the national Bitcoin Office have surpassed 6,000 BTC. That accumulation record falls within the category of public-sector Bitcoin activity covered by the program's December 2024 conditions, making the accumulation-related waiver the pivotal piece of the completed reviews.

The completion of the second and third reviews allows the corresponding tranche of financing to be disbursed and marks continued cooperation between El Salvador and the fund under the multi-year program. Further tranches remain tied to the completion of subsequent reviews, the checkpoints at which the fund assesses a member's progress against program commitments—both fiscal and Bitcoin-related—over the facility's remaining term.

This article was first published on COINOTAG: https://en.coinotag.com/imf-releases-138m-el-salvador-bitcoin-accumulation-waiver