El Salvador Reports a 1,090 BTC Increase During the November Selloff
El Salvador’s reported Bitcoin reserve balance increased by 1,090 BTC as the market traded below $90,000, renewing questions about the country’s IMF commitments; later IMF reporting said post-review additions came from private donations rather than public resources.
On November 18, 2025, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office records and President Nayib Bukele’s public post were widely reported as showing a 1,090 BTC increase in the country’s reported Bitcoin holdings, worth roughly $100 million at the time. The change raised the reported national balance to about 7,474 BTC and came during Bitcoin’s steep November selloff.
Contemporary coverage frequently described the increase as a government purchase because it appeared on the country’s public reserve reporting while Bitcoin was falling. That interpretation immediately raised questions about how the increase fit with El Salvador’s IMF-supported program, which had constrained additional public-sector Bitcoin accumulation.
Later IMF reporting clarified the funding picture. The Fund said post-review increases in the reserve reflected private donations and that no public resources had been used for the additional accumulation. That later information changes how the November movement should be understood without changing what was publicly visible at the time: El Salvador’s reported reserve rose sharply during a market decline and became the subject of renewed scrutiny over the mechanics of its Bitcoin policy.
The episode showed how difficult it had become to interpret sovereign Bitcoin holdings from public wallet balances alone. By late 2025, questions of beneficial ownership, funding source, transfers between government-associated wallets, and IMF commitments had become inseparable from the headline reserve number.