US may seize Venezuela’s $60 billion bitcoin hoard, sparking potential market shock

Venezuela’s long-speculated Bitcoin treasure has taken centre stage after the US-led operation in January 2026 that resulted in President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest.

Intelligence reports suggest the country may have built a “shadow reserve” of 600,000–660,000 Bitcoins, valued at $60–67 billion, potentially making Venezuela one of the world’s largest Bitcoin holders, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

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With such a supply, Venezuela could rival institutional giants like BlackRock and MicroStrategy, fundamentally affecting Bitcoin availability and market sentiment.

Sources say the accumulation began in 2018, using gold exports, oil sales against Tether (USDT), and domestic mining seizures. Between 2018 and 2020, Venezuela converted around $2 billion in gold revenues—at roughly $5,000 per Bitcoin—into BTC, now worth about $36 billion.

From 2023 to 2025, PDVSA accepted USDT for crude exports, later converted to Bitcoin, reducing reliance on the US dollar. Overall, Venezuela may hold roughly 3 per cent of circulating BTC.

The scale dwarfs past state sales: in 2024, Saxony sold 50,000 BTC ($3 billion), dropping the market 15–20 per cent. Venezuela’s 600,000 BTC, if frozen or seized, could create unprecedented supply effects and boost prices.

The US faces three options: freeze the assets, add them to a US Strategic BTC Reserve, or auction them—analysts expect the first two.

Venezuela’s crypto adoption is notable: by end-2025, 10 per cent of supermarket purchases and 40 per cent of peer-to-peer transactions were in crypto.

While private keys remain inaccessible, the “locked” 600,000 BTC could trigger a supply shock and long-term price boost. Venezuela’s shadow reserve may become one of the largest strategic Bitcoin holdings in history.

By Aghakazim Guliyev