Bukele Denies El Salvador Transferred Bitcoin Reserves to Private Operator

Highlights:

• Bukele denies El Salvador transferred its Bitcoin reserves, saying the IMF statement only covers changes to Chivo.
• The IMF says Chivo’s majority ownership and operational control moved to a private operator, not Bitcoin reserves.
• El Salvador still faces IMF limits on new public Bitcoin purchases as its economic program moves forward.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has rejected claims that the government transferred its Bitcoin reserves to a private operator. He said the report confused the country’s Bitcoin holdings with changes involving Chivo, the government-backed crypto wallet.

Bukele responded on September 5 to a report from EL PAÍS América. The outlet said El Salvador had transferred “majority ownership and control” connected to more than 7,763 crypto assets, valued at over $632 million, to a private operator under its agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In his post on X, Bukele called the claim “totally false” and directed readers to the IMF’s September 3 statement. He argued that the transfer involved Chivo rather than El Salvador’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. “Read it. It clearly says the exact opposite: that the only thing transferred was the shares of Chivo, something that was offered a year and a half ago, and NOT the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” Bukele wrote.

Normalmente no contesto directamente a tanta noticia falsa, pero esta me pareció un buen ejemplo de cómo estos “periodistas” y medios de comunicación MIENTEN descaradamente a sus lectores.

Lean este tuit, que ASEGURA que El Salvador ha transferido sus reservas de bitcoin a un… https://t.co/Y9OdnNpKal

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) September 4, 2026

IMF Says Chivo Control Moved to Private Operator

The IMF statement says public participation in the Chivo e-wallet has been “substantially unwound.” Majority ownership and operational control were transferred to a private operator. However, the Salvadoran government kept a minority stake and custodial responsibilities for customer assets.

The IMF discussed El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings separately from Chivo. It said the BTC added since the first review came from private donations, not public money. The Fund also said it does not expect El Salvador to add more Bitcoin beyond those documented donations. These limits are part of the country’s IMF agreement and are separate from the transfer of Chivo’s control to a private operator.

Bukele Pushes Back on EL PAÍS Report

EL PAÍS published the report on September 4 and linked the issue to El Salvador’s $1.4 billion IMF agreement. The report said the government had agreed to stop buying Bitcoin and had transferred control of its crypto reserves to a private operator. Bukele rejected that interpretation. His response focused on the wording of the IMF release, which specifically refers to the government’s e-wallet when discussing majority ownership and operational control.

IMF documents treat Chivo and El Salvador’s public-sector Bitcoin holdings separately. Chivo was created as a government-backed digital wallet to support Bitcoin payments, while the country’s public-sector crypto holdings are covered under separate reporting and transparency requirements. Earlier IMF documents also set out specific rules for tracking government-controlled Bitcoin wallets.

IMF Program Moves Forward With Bitcoin Limits

The September 3 announcement came after IMF staff and Salvadoran authorities reached a staff-level agreement on the combined second and third reviews of the country’s 40-month Extended Fund Facility. If the IMF Executive Board approves the reviews, El Salvador would gain access to about $140 million. The IMF also expects El Salvador’s real GDP to grow 4.5% in 2026, supported by investment, private consumption, remittances, tourism and capital inflows.

For Bitcoin, the latest IMF update keeps restrictions on further public accumulation and calls for greater transparency around government crypto holdings. The statement confirms the transfer of majority ownership and operational control of Chivo, but it does not state that El Salvador transferred its Bitcoin reserve to the private operator.