El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings have lost about $300 million in market value after Bitcoin’s decline reduced the portfolio’s peak valuation. The drawdown has renewed scrutiny of sovereign crypto exposure as the country faces International Monetary Fund program reviews and sizable debt payments.
El Salvador holds about 7,560 BTC, based on balance data cited from the National Bitcoin Office. Bitcoin traded near $69,600 on February 14, 2026, which implies a market value of about $526 million for that balance. The holdings had reached approximately $800 million around October 2025.
The drop reflects price moves, not reported sales. Officials have not announced BTC disposals tied to the crypto market decline. The government, therefore, still carries the loss as a paper drawdown.
However, the lower valuation can affect fiscal planning. It can shape investor views of liquidity buffers. Analysts linked the reserve move to wider market stress in El Salvador’s debt pricing.
The IMF approved a 40-month Extended Fund Facility for El Salvador on February 26, 2025, with access of about $1.4 billion. The IMF said the program targets stronger public finances, larger external buffers, and tighter governance and transparency. The IMF also said it would address Bitcoin-related risks.
In its approval statement, the IMF said legal reforms made private-sector Bitcoin acceptance voluntary. It also said the program would confine public-sector engagement in Bitcoin activities and purchases. The IMF added that the government planned to unwind its participation in the Chivo e-wallet.
The IMF completed the first review in June 2025 and allowed an additional disbursement. IMF reporting showed total disbursements reached about $231 million at that point. El Salvador continued to announce bitcoin purchases during the program and assured the IMF it would not increase bitcoin holdings at the overall public-sector level.
Bloomberg reported that El Salvador faces about $450 million in bond payments in 2026. The figure rises to nearly $700 million in 2027. Bloomberg also reported that credit default swaps climbed to a five-month high during the sell-off.
El Salvador has made changes to its reserve management. In August 2025, the National Bitcoin Office planned to split reserves across multiple addresses and publish a dashboard that shows balances. The move aimed to improve security and transparency.
Analysts have tied investor sensitivity to the interaction between reserve volatility and external financing. “Bitcoin being down also doesn’t help to ease investors’ concerns,” Christopher Mejia of T. Rowe Price told Bloomberg, while pointing to the IMF program as a key market anchor.
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