El Salvador receives $138 million from IMF after Bitcoin waivers granted

What happened

The IMF’s Executive Board completed the second and third reviews under El Salvador’s 40-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement on Thursday, it said in a press release . Efforts will continue to reduce the state’s involvement in Bitcoin-related activities and to strengthen crypto‑asset regulation and governance, the IMF said.

The International Monetary Fund approved the immediate disbursement of about $138 million to El Salvador under the country’s $1.4 billion financing program, despite some performance criteria being missed. While certain performance criteria were not met, including on the Bitcoin accumulation front, the IMF granted waivers “based on strong corrective measures and renewed commitments.”

The agency noted that progress had been achieved in financial sector reforms, fiscal transparency, AML/CFT reforms and the transfer of majority ownership and control of the government Chivo Bitcoin wallet to a private operator. Related: El Salvador’s post-review Bitcoin accumulation used no public funds: IMF Cointelegraph reported on Sept. The IMF said documents supplied by Salvadoran authorities verified that the accumulation came from private donations.