El Salvador’s government has transferred its Bitcoin holdings to new addresses, just months after assuring the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it would not buy more of the cryptocurrency.
According to the country’s Bitcoin Office, the shift was driven by concerns over the security risks posed by quantum computing. “Quantum computers have the theoretical capability to break public-private key cryptography using Shor’s algorithm,” the office wrote on X. It added that once a Bitcoin transaction is signed and broadcast, the public key becomes visible, leaving it open to potential quantum attacks that could compromise private keys and redirect funds before confirmation.
Back in 2022, President Nayib Bukele pledged to purchase one Bitcoin per day for the country’s reserves. Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that El Salvador’s treasury currently holds 6,286 $BTC, worth around $686 million at today’s price of $109,204 per coin.
The Bitcoin Office explained that the government had previously relied on a single wallet address for transparency. Now, however, it will distribute the funds across multiple addresses, each capped at 500 $BTC. “Limiting funds in each address reduces exposure to quantum threats because an unused Bitcoin address with hashed public keys remains protected,” the office noted. Data also confirms that the most recent purchase of 1 $BTC was made on Sunday.
El salvador Launches Public Dashboard for Transparency
The Salvadoran government has introduced a public dashboard to track its transactions and wallet addresses. Crypto privacy experts have long advised against using a single address for large reserves, pointing out that multiple addresses improve both privacy and security.
This update follows a July statement by the IMF, which highlighted that El Salvador had agreed not to accumulate additional Bitcoin. The IMF started releasing loan funds in May to support the country’s economy, with conditions tied to adjusting Bitcoin-related policies.
At the time, an IMF spokesperson clarified that while the government continued moving funds internally, it was not actively buying more Bitcoin. “The total amount of Bitcoin held across government-owned wallets remains unchanged,” the spokesperson told Inner City Press.
El Salvador made history in 2021 by becoming the first nation to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, alongside the U.S. dollar. The law requires businesses to accept Bitcoin if they have the technological capacity to do so.
To support this, the government rolled out a state-backed digital wallet for its citizens, aiming to encourage adoption and everyday use of the cryptocurrency.
On a side note, this November, San Salvador will become the heart of global Bitcoin culture as El Salvador hosts Bitcoin Histórico, the first-ever Bitcoin conference backed by a national government. Set to take place on November 12–13, the event is being presented not just as a technology conference, but as a cultural landmark that highlights how Bitcoin can influence and reshape entire nations.
