The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested that El Salvador reduce government support for Bitcoin. This is a far more conciliatory attitude than previous attempts to repeal the nation’s Bitcoin law.

Nevertheless, President Nayib Bukele seems committed to Bitcoinization.

Bitcoin and El Salvador

According to a recent report from Forbes, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is trying a new tactic with El Salvador: if it won’t repeal Bitcoin’s status as a legal currency, it should reduce Bitcoin’s legal support. The IMF has remained an implacable enemy of El Salvador’s Bitcoin project since Bukele declared it legal tender in 2021.

“What we have recommended is a narrowing of the scope of the bitcoin law, strengthening the regulatory framework and oversight of the bitcoin ecosystem, and limiting public sector exposure to bitcoin,” IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack claimed via press conference.

Read more: Top 9 Crypto Friendly Countries For Digital Assets Investors

Before Bukele legalized Bitcoin as a legal tender in El Salvador, the country’s sole currency was US dollars. Bukele explicitly cast this turn towards decentralized currency as an attempt to gain national sovereignty and economic independence. The IMF has tried various tactics to reverse this legislation, such as tanking Salvadoran bonds, but their tune might be changing.

Bukele won re-election in June this year, promising an “economic transformation” through Bitcoin. In his second term, he began new ambitious projects to integrate it into the economy. Additionally, since his re-election, the IMF has seemed more conciliatory in their approach, and today’s statements seem to continue the trend.

Simply put, the cat is out of the bag, thanks to Bukele’s successes. El Salvador has acquired a substantial stockpile of Bitcoin, and Forbes‘ analysis of the country’s 2025 budget suggests that the country will not require IMF loans. Slight reconciliation now might be the IMF’s best chance to rebuild a working relationship with the country.

Read more: Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction 2024/2025/2030

The IMF’s incentives are not aligned with El Salvador’s, and El Salvador should forge its own path, independent of IMF interests. It was a very beneficial move to defy their previous advice regarding Bitcoin,” claimed John Dennehy, founder of Salvadoran NGO Mi Primer Bitcoin.

It seems unlikely that Bukele will accept this olive branch. His re-election was quite the political accomplishment, and he has a variety of plans to continue the nation’s Bitcoinization. El Salvador has made it this far by disregarding the financial establishment, and has little reason to stop now. Bitcoin is performing well, and the future looks bright.

The Bitcoin price action in the past two weeks has reiterated its volatile nature despite the steady flow of institutional money. The cryptocurrency surged in the last days of September from $53,500 to a high of $66,000, only to pull back to $61,000 in the first few days of October, showing its unpredictable nature.

Interestingly, Bitcoin’s rally to reaching $66,000 has led to a change in the investing dynamics among holder cohorts. Furthermore, this change in dynamics reveals that its reversal and retest after the rally is not entirely bad news for Bitcoin’s price. In fact, this shift suggests that the pullback could be setting the stage for a more resilient long-term price outlook for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s Rejection At $66,000

Bitcoin’s recent break above $66,000 last week led to the creation of the first higher high since June. This notable Bitcoin development was noted by on-chain analytics platform Glassnode in a recent report. Bitcoin, which had initially created a higher low of $53,000 in September, eventually went on to break above the August high of $64,500. According to the report, the creation of this higher high led to a change in the profitability of short-term and long-term holder cohorts, with many more bitcoins moving into the long-term threshold. 

Particularly, the recent rally has seen many coins acquired in close proximity to the $73,780 all-time high now being held for over 155 days. This, in turn, has seen many of these coins, which are in losses, now moving to long-term holder status. Although only 6.54% of long-term holders are in losses, they account for 47.4% of all coins in losses. While this might not bode well at the moment for these long-term holders, Glassnode notes that this is actually common during re-accumulation phases, as seen in the 2013, 2019 and 2021 periods. History shows that these have often led to price rallies. 

On the other end, profitability has improved massively among short-term holders. Glassnode data shows that a significant number of coins that are still in the short-term cohort have a cost basis between $53,000 and $66,000. Interestingly, the last rally has pushed the profitability of short-term holder supply to over 62%. Notably, profit-taking volumes are now 14.17 times larger than for loss-taking. As such, the financial pressure on short-term holders has now been eased, and many of them now have incentives to keep holding. 

What Next For Bitcoin?

Despite Bitcoin’s recent reversal at $66,000, the cryptocurrency finds itself in a stronger and more profitable position for investors around the board compared to where it stood just a month ago. Furthermore, the rejection at $66,000 has given investors, especially long-term holders, another chance to load up on their holdings. 

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $61,200.  

Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com

According to the American television network HBO, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, who created Bitcoin, may not be a mystery for much longer.

The alleged discovery could significantly impact Bitcoin (BTC), as anonymity has played a strategic role in maintaining the cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature.

Satoshi Nakamoto Unmasked, HBO Says

In a Thursday post on X, HBO said it would premier a documentary to reveal the identity of the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Based on the trailer, the documentary will feature some influential personalities in the Bitcoin playing field.

Among them is Adam Back, the inventor of the blockchain hashing algorithm used in some cryptocurrency mining software. Roger Ver, who later moved on to Bitcoin Cash, also features alongside Samson Mow and Philip Karađorđević, the self-styled Prince of Serbia and renowned Bitcoiner.

Satoshi’s identity has been a mystery since Bitcoin was created in 2009 as the first truly decentralized cryptocurrency. The revelation would make public the controller of about 1.1 million Bitcoin, the biggest BTC stash in the world.

If Satoshi Nakamoto still holds the cryptographic keys to their Bitcoin fortune, their net worth would be approximately $67.5 billion, based on current prices. Data from BeInCrypto indicates that Bitcoin is trading at $61,353 at the time of writing. 

Read more: Who Owns the Most Bitcoin in 2024?

Crypto enthusiasts widely believe that Satoshi Nakamoto has no control over Bitcoin’s code, network consensus, or its operations. Despite ongoing chatter, curiosity surrounding Nakamoto’s influence is deemed largely irrelevant.

Recently, several high-value wallets from the Satoshi era became active for the first time since 2009. While these wallets are not officially tied to Nakamoto, they may belong to early collaborators.

More Satoshi Nakamoto Theories to Go Bust Soon

There have been several theories about who is Satoshi Nakamoto. Some of the most prominent speculations over the years include:

• Nick Szabo — computer scientist and cryptographer.
• Hal Finney — cryptographic pioneer and the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto.
• Dorian Nakamoto — he denied any involvement after a discovery article in 2024.
• Craig Wright – an Australian computer scientist who claimed he is Satoshi with cryptographic evidence to support his claim.
• A Group of Individuals – there are theories that Satoshi is not a single person.

Hhowever, the UK presiding judge, Mr. Justice Mellor, stripped off one theory, determining that Craig Wright is not the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. The ruling came after the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (Copa), a conglomerate of cryptocurrency companies, levied charges against Wright.

Copa aimed to prevent Wright from claiming he had invented Bitcoin. Notably, the defendant was already using the speculation to expand his influence over the crypto sector.

“Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin white paper. He is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in the period 2008 to 2011… He is not the person who created the Bitcoin system…and he is not the author of the initial versions of the Bitcoin software,” Justice Mellor said.

With the UK court’s determination in March 2024, the search for Satoshi Nakamoto continued, and now HBO claims to have all the answers. Social media is already abuzz following the announcement, with discussions and concerns among crypto market participants.

Read more: Anonymity vs. Pseudonymity: Understanding the Key Differences.

To some, it is surprising why the supposed identity has not been leaked, with an entire series at the cusp of release. This speculation is based on the assumption that it would be nearly impossible to keep news of such magnitude airtight.

Other concerns include how the authorities could claim Satoshi Nakamoto’s complicity in crimes featuring Bitcoin use. The FBI is also said to have information about Nakamoto, which further heats up discussions on the subject.