Venezuela's bitcoins. Alleged $60 billion worth

[pawel7777]

source: AI slop generated to make the topic more pleasant for the eye

I've read some press hit yesterday from a lesser-known news outlet about Venezuela allegedly having potentially huge bitcoins holdings, a number of 600,000 was mentioned, and today I see more mainstream news reporting a similar story:
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/06/venezuela-could-be-sitting-on-a-big-bitcoin-stash-experts-say-heres-what-could-happen-next-.html

(...)
Digital publication Project Brazen reported Saturday that Venezuela could hold roughly $60 billion, citing unnamed sources that were not confirmed through blockchain analysis. Such a stash would put the regime among the biggest holders of the crypto in the world, alongside bitcoin treasury firm Strategy
(...)

Although the "official" amount owned by Venezuela is said to be only 240 bitcoins (by https://bitcointreasuries.net/) in reality, that amount could be far greater. Venezuela had strict sanctions imposed on them by the US and was using crypto to bypass them.

If the story about the huge stash turns to be true, it could potentially have a big impact on the market. And it could go either way. If the US puts their hands on it and manages to seize it in full and keep it (e.g. as compensation for damages caused by fentanyl supplied from Venezuela to US citizens), they could potentially transfer it to the federal bitcoin reserve, meaning it would be (somewhat) out of circulation and it could further legitimise Bitcoin. And with a huge holding like that, the US would have a material reason to care for the entire crypto industry and advocate for it worldwide.

But if the stash gets split between members of the old/current government, we could see a big portions on it getting dumped on the market, creating big selling pressure, even if not all of it would be dumped at once.

Thoughts?

[rat03gopoh]

This remains a matter of speculation, as there's no valid on-chain evidence of such large Bitcoin holdings. This certainly highlights how crypto has become a geopolitical tool; countries like Venezuela use it to evade sanctions, but it could actually backfire on the US.

We can only hope this figure is true and the US successfully takes over as a strategic reserve; otherwise, your 2nd scenario (which we don't expect) could happen sooner. In the absence of valid evidence, we'll simply see the market overreact to this uncertainty.

[7juju]

Let me understand something here is it that the US is just after Maduro or they are after Venezuela as a country and their national assets? If Venezuela have bitcoin as a national reserve assets, why would the US seize it? If the US are saying that Maduro is a drug dealer and they arrested him to come answer for that. So whatever bitcoin that Venezuela have in the name of the country should not be touched. They don't have proof that those bitcoins were bought with drugs money shifted to the US, Venezuela isn't run by the proceeds of the drug money. But if they find the bitcoins in the name of Maduro and they said it was bought from drugs money that's understandable. But the one that belongs to the country at large should be left for the Venezuelans. Well all these things are just rumours, let's just wait and see how things unfolds in the coming days or weeks.

[Oshosondy]

My post is not that I am in support of United States but I just use it to explained the high chance that United States will not sell consficated coins.

If the story about the huge stash turns to be true, it could potentially have a big impact on the market. And it could go either way. If the US puts their hands on it and manages to seize it in full and keep it (e.g. as compensation for damages caused by fentanyl supplied from Venezuela to US citizens), they could potentially transfer it to the federal bitcoin reserve, meaning it would be (somewhat) out of circulation and it could further legitimise Bitcoin. And with a huge holding like that, the US would have a material reason to care for the entire crypto industry and advocate for it worldwide.

If United States seized the bitcoin, it can not create selling pressure because they will add it to the national reserve instead which is what Trump has signed into law when he said he wants United States to have crypto reserve, confiscated coins will only be used for it and it signed it into law.

[FinneysTrueVision]

CNBC is pretty well known for financial news, although they are citing unverified reports from unnamed sources and a blog/podcast who also doesn’t provide any corroborating evidence. According to that blog, a DEA informant who is currently a Venezualan government official is the only one who might be able to access that Bitcoin. The story seems sensational and I would be skeptical until they can provide blockchain evidence of these holdings.

[viljy]

Fentanyl?! Isn't it a synthetic opium-like drug? Does it grow in the form of leaves like cocaine? In my opinion, it is either produced in the United States by some Sackler family, or it is exported from Asia, but I don't believe in its Venezuelan origin at all. This is something like another CIA fairy tale, like a test tube with VX from Iraq.
As for such a sum in bitcoins, I can't believe it at all. But even if that's true, it's not known who has access. How can this affect prices in general? Why does this bitcoin (if it's true) have to get on the market? These are all unanswered questions. Therefore, any panic is now unfounded.

[Yaunfitda]

It remains to be seen though, it's all speculation that they have this kind of huge Bitcoin. And so it's question who holds it? Is it just Maduro himself or several government officials? How can the US force Maduro to give them access to the Bitcoin if ever this is true. There's a lot of questions here and everyone has his or her speculation. Maybe if the US will got it then Trump will put it on their national reserved. And there could be huge impact on the market whether positive or negative as this is a huge amount. So anything  goes and we can only hope that it will just be a positive effect. We should also take note that Maduro used to have Petro as a crypto isn't it? It's supposedly back up by oil but I don't know what really happen to it or if it is just a front of him or maybe they turn it into Bitcoin that's why it is speculated that they have a ton of stash.

[Hispo]

Venezuelan here. I have some information which is public knowledge for any Venezuelan living here within this territory.

The government of Maduro understood how useful Bitcoin is to avoid financial sanctions put onto him and his officials long time ago, as a result the government of Maduro, his closest allies and even military people have kept secret mining farms within military forts, taking advantage of the immense hydroelectrical capabilities of the country (we have subsized electricity from hydro power) and also the gas reserves we have in the north of the country.

The government accumulated much Bitcoin by acquiring their own Ant-miners and also taking control of mining equipments from people who mined without their permission in the country.

I would not be surprised if thousands of Bitcoins are indeed in the hands of Maduro and his crooks, but I would not dare to guess on the amount.

It is public knowledge the regime mines Bitcoin in military forts and facilities.

[EluguHcman]

If the story about the huge stash turns to be true, it could potentially have a big impact on the market. And it could go either way. If the US puts their hands on it and manages to seize it in full and keep it (e.g. as compensation for damages caused by fentanyl supplied from Venezuela to US citizens), they could potentially transfer it to the federal bitcoin reserve, meaning it would be (somewhat) out of circulation and it could further legitimise Bitcoin. And with a huge holding like that, the US would have a material reason to care for the entire crypto industry and advocate for it worldwide.

But if the stash gets split between members of the old/current government, we could see a big portions on it getting dumped on the market, creating big selling pressure, even if not all of it would be dumped at once.

Thoughts?

We can foe now assume this to be mere Speculations and realistically, even if the news have to be true that the Venezuela government is holding such huge amount of Bitcoins do you think it would have a different performance in the Bitcoin market just because of the US discovery? Of now not, if they truly holds such amount of Bitcoin, definitely it would have strong positive momentum effect on Bitcoin price. Unless it is sold before it would trigger dump just as your opinion.

Also, the US can also stretch hands to seize the Bitcoin of the Venezuela if only they acquired it illegal otherwise, I don't think they have the right to take treasure from them and besides, even if the Venezuela government have to pay the US for breaking any protocol, they are to decide which way to pay the fine.
Don't forget that the Venezuela in question also have oil which the US might even be targeting and not even the crypto.

[aioc]

Venezuelan here. I have some information which is public knowledge for any Venezuelan living here within this territory.

I would not be surprised if thousands of Bitcoins are indeed in the hands of Maduro and his crooks, but I would not dare to guess on the amount.

Thanks for sharing this, mate. It's good to know we have a member like you who can give us facts about Venezuela's stash of Bitcoin, since this is part of Maduro's assets and of his crooks. What will likely happen to this stash of Bitcoin? Will the US force him to spill the beans on how to recover these Bitcoins? And will the US government send them to the government of Venezuela, or will the US keep all the Bitcoin they confiscated?
I have this opinion that the US will try to confiscate them; the US could possibly hit two birds with one stone: Venezuela's oil and Maduro's Bitcoin. There's speculation that it's more than 600k Bitcoin.

[livingfree]

Venezuelan here. I have some information which is public knowledge for any Venezuelan living here within this territory.

The government of Maduro understood how useful Bitcoin is to avoid financial sanctions put onto him and his officials long time ago, as a result the government of Maduro, his closest allies and even military people have kept secret mining farms within military forts, taking advantage of the immense hydroelectrical capabilities of the country (we have subsized electricity from hydro power) and also the gas reserves we have in the north of the country.

The government accumulated much Bitcoin by acquiring their own Ant-miners and also taking control of mining equipments from people who mined without their permission in the country.

I would not be surprised if thousands of Bitcoins are indeed in the hands of Maduro and his crooks, but I would not dare to guess on the amount.

It is public knowledge the regime mines Bitcoin in military forts and facilities.

Hey thanks for this, this is much better information than the piece of crap from the mainstream media that doesn't have final evidence to provide.

At least with the rumor that they have reported, this can conclude that the government is well versed of how useful Bitcoin is and they have collected a bunch of it.

Now the question is about the quantity of it if it's really 600k Bitcoins. I guess that we'll just find it out once again from their report if there's an actual data for it.

[Renampun]

As far as I understand, it's all just speculation, it's still unclear whether Venezuela actually has that much Bitcoin or not, so the truth of this news is still highly questionable and cannot be verified. but even if the Venezuelan government had that much Bitcoin, I don't think it would be that easy for the US to seize it, since it's managed by the Venezuelan authorities, they certainly don't want it to fall into the hands of the US, especially since the US has already managed to get their hands on Venezuelan oil, I don't think they want to pursue anything more than that.

[yhiaali3]

If this news is true, Venezuela would possess the world's largest oil reserves (303 billion barrels) and also one of the largest potential Bitcoin reserves of any country. Amazing!

If it is indeed true that Venezuela holds 600,000 Bitcoins, with an approximate value of $60 billion, then they belong to the Venezuelan people, and neither Trump nor anyone else has the right to confiscate them under any pretext. This is a violation of international law. If Trump claims that his actions were for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, then he should not touch Venezuela's Bitcoin.

[pawel7777]

CNBC is pretty well known for financial news, although they are citing unverified reports from unnamed sources and a blog/podcast who also doesn’t provide any corroborating evidence. According to that blog, a DEA informant who is currently a Venezualan government official is the only one who might be able to access that Bitcoin. The story seems sensational and I would be skeptical until they can provide blockchain evidence of these holdings.

Yeah, I feel the >600,000 bitcoins is a massive exaggeration, but, at the same time, I'm almost sure that the 240 bitcoins that can be tracked to the Venezuelan government is not their entire holding. It has to be more than that, given they were known for actively using cryptocurrencies to bypass the sanctions.

Fentanyl?! Isn't it a synthetic opium-like drug? Does it grow in the form of leaves like cocaine? In my opinion, it is either produced in the United States by some Sackler family, or it is exported from Asia, but I don't believe in its Venezuelan origin at all. This is something like another CIA fairy tale, like a test tube with VX from Iraq.
(...)

I hear that fentanyl is indeed flowing to the US from Latin America, but the majority of it comes from Mexico, with less than 10% coming from Venezuela.
But they decided it's still good to have some "moral" justification for the public, rather than just quoting strategic interests.

Venezuelan here. (...)

Thanks for the intel. Much appreciated.

[tygeade]

I really do not believe this news. I get that they may have some, but 60+ billion sounds a lot and since it's crypto, and if they do not already seized all of it and put somewhere, then I think it's just an estimate and nothing more and they won't get that much.

People do not realize how poor Venezuela was, just because they had oil, everyone thinks they are some super wealthy nation but they are not, and this is why it's smarter to end up with something that will cause a lot of problems for the people of it and they can't have 60 billion even maduro himself. Just let it be and consider this as a win for USA, they are bad of course for doing this, but they at least got away with it once again and will be richer for it.

[Hispo]

Venezuelan here. I have some information which is public knowledge for any Venezuelan living here within this territory.

I would not be surprised if thousands of Bitcoins are indeed in the hands of Maduro and his crooks, but I would not dare to guess on the amount.

Thanks for sharing this, mate. It's good to know we have a member like you who can give us facts about Venezuela's stash of Bitcoin, since this is part of Maduro's assets and of his crooks. What will likely happen to this stash of Bitcoin? Will the US force him to spill the beans on how to recover these Bitcoins? And will the US government send them to the government of Venezuela, or will the US keep all the Bitcoin they confiscated?
I have this opinion that the US will try to confiscate them; the US could possibly hit two birds with one stone: Venezuela's oil and Maduro's Bitcoin. There's speculation that it's more than 600k Bitcoin.

The most likely situation is those Bitcoin to continue to be under the control of the crooks which have held power in this country. We are talking about Bitcoins which were mined (not with the intention to be part of the National treasury) but to be part of the personal fortune of those in power. Trump administration won't initially try to confiscate those Bitcoins, as their priority is oil and keeping their rivals out this country. While the dust settles and there is still confusion in the air, those Bitcoins are going to be moved to new wallets, private keys will be hidden even further by the elite of this country, so when the administration of the United States starts to pay attention to those bitcoins, they are already mixed and safeguarded within the control of those corrupt politicians.

[Juse14]

If this news is true, Venezuela would possess the world's largest oil reserves (303 billion barrels) and also one of the largest potential Bitcoin reserves of any country. Amazing!

If it is indeed true that Venezuela holds 600,000 Bitcoins, with an approximate value of $60 billion, then they belong to the Venezuelan people, and neither Trump nor anyone else has the right to confiscate them under any pretext. This is a violation of international law. If Trump claims that his actions were for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, then he should not touch Venezuela's Bitcoin.

I heard in many media that Trump will confiscate Bitcoin owned by the Venezuelan government, it is very sad to hear that where there is no right for Trump to confiscate anything in that country, it belongs to Venezuelan citizens.

I am actually still blind to this polemic case in Venezuela, whether it is true that they are doing inappropriate things and violating the rules so that Trump comes as a savior of Venezuelan citizens, or this is just a Trump propaganda where he only wants to exploit natural resources in Venezuela, which comes to colonize but looks like a helper angel.

[pawel7777]

I am actually still blind to this polemic case in Venezuela, whether it is true that they are doing inappropriate things and violating the rules so that Trump comes as a savior of Venezuelan citizens, or this is just a Trump propaganda where he only wants to exploit natural resources in Venezuela, which comes to colonize but looks like a helper angel.

As someone once said, no war in the history of humankind was fought solely for moral reasons. Feelings of average Venezuelans are only part of the equation to the extent that they don't rebel against whoever will be put into power next.
To give Trump and his administration credit - they are pretty honest about what they are after: access to oil reserves and they're not pushing fake moral reasons very hard. People are not used to it, as with all previous military operations, we have been fed with fairy tales of good Vs evil etc, but in this case and even more so with the Greenland issue, Trump is brutally honest. I'm really curious how this will unfold. If Americans are generally OK with this approach, this could mean we entered a new paradigm of how geopolitical affairs will now be presented. This could backfire badly if US is ever put in a situation of a full-blown war. I'm not sure if US soldiers would be as willing to put their lives on the line to fight "for strategic interests" as they would be for "protecting the country from evil people" (as that was the narrative for every past conflict).

[Hispo]

...

I am actually still blind to this polemic case in Venezuela, whether it is true that they are doing inappropriate things and violating the rules so that Trump comes as a savior of Venezuelan citizens, or this is just a Trump propaganda where he only wants to exploit natural resources in Venezuela, which comes to colonize but looks like a helper angel.

I am a Venezuelan living in Venezuela. I can tell you most people here are happy or at least okey with Trump ousting Maduro. Maduro is a very dangerous and corrupt politician who did not have any problem with keeping people under illegal arrest and tortured just because those people were vocal about how bad things are here in Venezuela.

We have literally torture centers in this country ran by Maduro and their crooks, where people are kept without a chance to have a fair trial, I have myself been a witness of military people stealing from the common people and I have myself had family members imprisoned without a trial.

People here are aware that Trump is not risking his political career and his credibility and soldiers for free and expects something in return, but people are just so fed up of the corrupt clown of Maduro that they are okey with him doing what he is doing.

Because of the corruption of Maduro and his crooks (who stole so much money that hospitals did not even have cottom or alcohol), I had a cousin of mine who suffered from cancer told by doctors on his nearest hospital "go home and die there". That is the level of corruption.

If you have any question for a real Venezuelan, here I am.

[Cookdata]

I heard in many media that Trump will confiscate Bitcoin owned by the Venezuelan government, it is very sad to hear that where there is no right for Trump to confiscate anything in that country, it belongs to Venezuelan citizens.

I am actually still blind to this polemic case in Venezuela, whether it is true that they are doing inappropriate things and violating the rules so that Trump comes as a savior of Venezuelan citizens, or this is just a Trump propaganda where he only wants to exploit natural resources in Venezuela, which comes to colonize but looks like a helper angel.

There are traces where money were move out to buy Bitcoin from Venezuela oil and the US government suspects it was used to buy Bitcoin secretly. All effort now is to get access to that Bitcoin because it might not really be for the benefit of the country, Maduros could be stealing the resources of Venezuela through oil and hidding it somewhere. The interest of the US president to have access to that Bitcoin, I doubt if he is going to comply about those Bitcoin if it's true.

These are all speculations until it's proven that the country or Maduros have Bitcoin. Assuming he declared the country to be a Bitcoin country and legally recognized, I'm not sure the US will be fighting to have access to the Bitcoin if indeed President Trump is really fighting for the benefit of Venezuela. Even the Bitcoin community will be fighting for him, an access to that Bitcoin means the US president will instruct those coins be sold in the market per what he just said about his interest in the people of Venezuela and the country.