Venezuela’s long-rumored Bitcoin holdings are drawing new scrutiny after a US-led operation in January 2026 resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.
Intelligence reports cited by industry outlet Whale Hunting suggest the country may control a “shadow reserve” of 600,000–660,000 BTC, worth an estimated $60 billion to $67 billion. If accurate, that would place Venezuela among the world’s largest Bitcoin holders, rivaling major institutional investors.
The accumulation reportedly began in 2018, funded through gold exports, oil trades settled in Tether (USDT), and the seizure of domestically mined Bitcoin. Between 2018 and 2020, Venezuela is said to have exported tens of tons of gold from the Orinoco Mining Arc, converting roughly $2 billion of the proceeds into Bitcoin at an average price of about $5,000 per coin. That tranche alone would now be valued at around $36 billion.
After the collapse of the state-backed Petro cryptocurrency, the Maduro government increasingly required state oil company PDVSA to settle crude exports in USDT from 2023 to 2025. According to the reports, these stablecoin receipts were then funneled into Bitcoin to avoid account freezes and reduce exposure to the US dollar. Additional coins were allegedly obtained through the confiscation of mining operations inside the country, bringing total holdings to more than 600,000 BTC, or roughly 3% of circulating supply.
The potential scale of this reserve far exceeds previous government Bitcoin disposals. In 2024, the German state of Saxony sold about 50,000 BTC—around $3 billion at the time—contributing to a 15–20% market correction. By comparison, 600,000 BTC being seized, frozen, or otherwise removed from open markets could have far greater implications for liquidity and price formation.
The United States now faces key decisions about how to handle any Bitcoin linked to the Maduro regime. According to analysts, three main scenarios are being discussed:
- Freezing the assets pending legal and diplomatic resolutions;
- Incorporating the coins into a US strategic Bitcoin reserve held over the long term;
- Liquidating the holdings via auctions, a path seen as less likely.
Market observers view freezing the coins or placing them into a strategic reserve as the most probable outcomes. Either move could effectively lock up a large tranche of supply for five to ten years, reinforcing a bullish narrative for Bitcoin and for large institutional holders.
The alleged hoard also underscores how deeply cryptocurrency has penetrated Venezuela’s economy. Years of hyperinflation, US sanctions, and the collapse of the bolívar have pushed households and businesses toward Bitcoin and stablecoins for everyday transactions, savings, and remittances.
By late 2025, up to 10% of grocery payments and nearly 40% of peer-to-peer transactions in the country were reportedly conducted in crypto. Stablecoin-based remittances accounted for close to 10% of inflows, and Venezuela ranked around 17th globally in crypto adoption, according to Chainalysis.
The capture of Maduro adds new uncertainty. A transitional government with strong US backing could move to relax restrictions on crypto mining, encourage more formal pro-crypto regulation, and prioritize recovery of any Bitcoin assets tied to the former regime.
For now, however, the reported 600,000 BTC remain effectively inaccessible until private keys are surrendered or courts resolve competing claims. That limbo could contribute to short-term volatility, while also setting the stage for a longer-term supply squeeze that supports higher prices.
In a market where large holders have outsized influence, Venezuela’s alleged shadow reserve has emerged as a critical, if still opaque, factor in Bitcoin’s global dynamics. If US authorities ultimately secure and freeze the assets, 2026 could mark a major realignment in how supply, liquidity, and strategy intersect in the Bitcoin ecosystem—potentially turning a clandestine accumulation by a sanctioned state into one of the largest state-linked Bitcoin reserves on record.