El Salvador rushes Bitcoin reform ahead of $1.4 billion IMF loan deal, BTC recovers from China AI shock

• El Salvador’s congress approved within minutes a Bitcoin reform bill sent by President Nayib Bukele on Wednesday. 
• The country struck a $1.4 billion loan deal with the IMF and introduced a Bitcoin reform to limit exposure to BTC. 
• Bitcoin is back above $105,000 on Thursday, adding nearly 2% value on the day. 

Bitcoin island, El Salvador, reformed its policies for a $1.4 billion loan deal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a Reuters report. The nation’s Congress approved a bill to amend its Bitcoin law and comply with the IMF’s requirement to make the acceptance of BTC voluntary. 

After making headlines as the world’s first country to make cryptocurrency legal tender, alongside the US Dollar (USD), crypto traders are closely watching El Salvador’s moves. 

Bitcoin acceptance now optional in El Salvador

In December 2024, El Salvador’s government was offered a $1.4 billion loan deal with the IMF on the condition that the nation scale back mandatory acceptance of BTC as legal tender. 

IMF required El Salvador to allow voluntary acceptance of Bitcoin as payment for private-sector firms, and Congress swiftly approved the bill. El Salvador’s move has garnered attention from crypto traders worldwide, even as Nayib Bukele’s government recently indicated that it will continue buying Bitcoin for the nation’s reserve. 

Bitcoin back above $105,000

Bitcoin adds nearly 2% to its value on Thursday, back above $105,000 at the time of writing. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is recovering from the shockwaves caused by the China-based startup’s rollout of DeepSeek and Alibaba’s AI model. 

The BTC/USDT daily price chart shows that Bitcoin’s price is less than 5% away from its all-time high of $109,588, reached on January 20. Technical indicators in the daily chart support a thesis for further gains in the token, suggesting that a retest of the all-time high is likely. 

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) momentum indicator reads 59 and is sloping upward, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator shows signs of a reversal in the underlying momentum of the Bitcoin price trend as the MACD line crosses above the signal line. 

BTC/USDT daily price chart 

Bitcoin’s price rallied immediately after the announcement of the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) interest rate decision on Wednesday, and the sentiment among traders remains bullish on Thursday.