EL SALVADOR NAMES CHIVO’S NEW MAJORITY OWNER, LINGUARD LABS — THE RELEASE SAYS USERS KEEP THEIR BALANCES BUT NEVER SAYS WHO HOLDS THE BITCOIN — THE IMF SAYS THE GOVERNMENT KEPT CUSTODY OF CUSTOMER ASSETS

On October 9, 2026, El Salvador’s government and Linguard Labs said in a Business Wire release that Linguard “has acquired a majority stake in Chivo; the government remains a shareholder.” Chivo is the state wallet launched in 2021. Linguard says its leaders include former Visa, JPMorgan Chase and Citi executives. Existing users “keep their accounts and balances” and will pay in bitcoin, dollars or stablecoins.

The release never says who holds the bitcoin behind those balances. The IMF did. Its September 3 statement says “a minority stake and custodial responsibilities for customer assets have been retained by the government.” Estrategia & Negocios, reading the IMF’s final review report, says the state’s Bitcoin Strategic Reserve keeps those funds in segregated cold wallets, and dates the handover of control to May 20, 2026, to Chivo LP, a Colorado company tied to Linguard.

So the app changed hands and the keys did not. A Chivo balance is a claim on coins the state holds. New owners can add loans, cash back and free remittances. None of that changes who you are trusting. The release says it plainly in its own heading: “Your money. Your data. All protected by the government of El Salvador.”

On September 30, El Salvador’s bitcoin office said all state involvement ended with the Chivo sale. The release now calls the government a shareholder and partner, and the IMF says it kept custody. Estrategia & Negocios reports the IMF wants signed quarterly lists of public wallet addresses from late December, split between the state’s coins and coins held for Chivo users. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $82,280.