El Salvador adds 1,090 BTC during a sharp market sell-off, lifting its holdings to ~7,500 BTC as Bitcoin falls below $90K.
El Salvador expanded its national Bitcoin BTC $67 850 24h volatility: 1.4% Market cap: $1.36 T Vol. 24h: $36.49 B stash by just over a thousand coins this week, stepping up accumulation during one of the sharpest sell-offs of 2025. So far, it’s the largest single-day purchase made by the pro-Bitcoin country.
The country’s Bitcoin Office data indicate a purchase of ≈1,090 BTC (~$100M), lifting total holdings to roughly 7,470–7,500 BTC.
Hooah! pic.twitter.com/KxMVbUrcGE
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) November 18, 2025
The fresh buy aligns with President Nayib Bukele’s “1 BTC per day” dollar-cost-averaging policy first announced in November 2022—a program the administration has reiterated it will keep running.
Bitcoin Price Drops Below $90K the First Time in 7 Months
The timing was opportunistic: Bitcoin briefly fell below $90,000 on Nov. 17 and 18, its first dip under that level in months amid risk-off trading across global markets. 
Bitcoin Price Drops Below $90K | Source: CoinMarketCap
Spot-ETF outflows have accelerated since the beginning of the week, and the Fear & Greed Index on CoinMarketCap slid to “extreme fear.”
Good Morning
The week kicks off with a 2.3K BTC outflow from the Spot ETFs.
Let’s see how the ETF cartel behaves for the rest of the week 🧸 DYOR pic.twitter.com/Eka6HJsWng
— Teddy (@TeddyVision) November 18, 2025
El Salvador’s Stance on Bitcoin
Regulatory backdrop remains nuanced. Under its $1.4B IMF program agreed in 2025, El Salvador pledged to curb broader public-sector Bitcoin exposure. Yet, the IMF later said recent increases in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve were consistent with the program’s terms, highlighting how the reserve is structured within those constraints. 
Bukele has also courted international counterparts on digital-asset policy: in June 2025, he met U.S. political adviser Bo Hines to discuss Bitcoin strategy, part of ongoing outreach on cross-border crypto rules. 
Separately, the government has boosted reserves via mining. Last year, Reuters reported that 474 BTC have been mined since 2021 using geothermal power, underscoring a multi-pronged approach (purchases + domestic production).
next