President Nayib Bukele ordered a massive purchase of Bitcoin reserves for El Salvador worth $100 million in a single day, taking advantage of a significant price drop below $90,000. The operation, executed on November 18, 2025, added around 1,090 to 1,098 BTC to the national coffers, reinforcing the bold state accumulation strategy. This investment places the digital asset even more at the center of the country’s fiscal balance and the debate with multilateral organizations, thus the Bukele administration remains firm in its commitment to the cryptocurrency.
The November 18 acquisition was a tactical move that disbursed over $100 million, executed precisely during a market pullback. Following this operation, the national Bitcoin reserves reached approximately 7,474 BTC, valued at over $676 million at the time of the transaction. The sovereign portfolio not only increased its volume but also shows unrealized capital gains, estimated in the range of $357 to $400 million on an initial investment of approximately $292 million. This implies an accumulated appreciation close to 132.35% since the initial investment.
The operation falls within a systematic accumulation policy that includes the strategy known as dollar-cost-averaging, or the daily purchase of one unit of Bitcoin since November 2022. This tactic seeks to average the acquisition cost and mitigate market volatility, in addition to complementing the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender since September 2021. Nevertheless, the purchase underscores the direct exposure of the sovereign balance to the high volatility of Bitcoin, expanding the correlation between the country’s fiscal position and the price movement of the asset on the blockchain.
Will the Standoff with the IMF Over Bitcoin Reserves Continue?
The decision to increase Bitcoin reserves occurs despite the reservations expressed by organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which requested limits on new purchases in the context of credit negotiations. However, the Salvadoran government continued its policy and, in fact, completed an $800 million debt payment, which complicated the default forecasts that some reports indicated. Therefore, companies and international investors are closely following the tension between El Salvador’s fiscal policy and the IMF’s requests for supervision.
The $100 million increase in Bitcoin reserves reinforces the state’s bet on the asset and places reserve management at a crossroads between technological innovation and perceived fiscal risk. The focus of the market and analysts will be on the verified evolution of these Bitcoin reserves and the transparency in their accounting, as these movements define the path of a fully digitalized economy. Furthermore, future negotiations with multilateral organizations on financing and supervision conditions will be the next key milestone to watch.
