Key Takeaways
- Bukele slammed false reports of a transferred bitcoin reserve, clarifying only Chivo shares were privatized.
- The IMF praised El Salvador’s economic growth and fiscal surplus, which Bukele credited to better security.
- Bukele ignored IMF claims that bitcoin reserves came from donations, as the country continues buying crypto.
Bukele Denies El Salvador Transferred Its Bitcoin Reserve to a Private Operator
President Nayib Bukele clarified the status of El Salvador’s sovereign bitcoin reserve after reports assured it had been transferred to a private operator.
El País, one of the largest journals in Spain with over 17.6 million unique users, claimed on social media that El Salvador had transferred “the majority ownership and control of more than 7,763 cryptocurrencies, valued at over 632 million dollars, into the hands of a private operator,” citing a press release from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the primary source for these allegations.
Bukele swiftly rebuked this, stressing that it was “totally false.” He stated that these journalists and media outlets “shamelessly LIE to their readers.”
“Read it. It clearly says the opposite: that the only thing that was transferred was the Chivo shares, something that was offered a year and a half ago, and NOT the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve,” Bukele declared, linking directly to the press release issued by the IMF in his X post.
The fund praised El Salvador’s performance and compliance, acknowledging that “economic activity has outperformed expectations, while fiscal and external imbalances are being addressed in line with program commitments.”
Bukele referred to the fund’s opinion, telling social media users to read how El Salvador “has achieved a primary fiscal surplus and has exceeded all economic growth expectations thanks to security and investor confidence, in addition to having achieved a significant reduction in poverty, supported by improvements in the efficiency of public services.”
Nonetheless, he failed to address IMF statements linking the constant accumulation of bitcoin for the nation’s strategic bitcoin reserve, which has already reached over 7,766 BTC, to private donations.
The fund also highlighted that no further accumulation was expected. Even so, El Salvador has continued to add bitcoin to its coffers after this announcement.
