These included invoicing oil (CL=F, BZ=F) in crypto, accumulating dollar-based stablecoins such as USDT through intermediaries, and even seizing private mining rigs during crackdowns. The government also launched the petro in 2018, an oil-backed digital token that predated the explosion of stablecoin experimentation across the developing world.

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Those events provided fertile terrain for speculation that the state had moved from opportunistic crypto usage to potential strategic bitcoin (BTC-USD) accumulation. According to the rumour, the bitcoin funds originated from gold (GC=F) sales that were allegedly converted into bitcoin, from oil (CL=F, BZ=F) trades settled in stablecoins or bitcoin, and from the seizure and operation of private mining hardware.

The rumour of a vast Venezuelan bitcoin (BTC-USD) hoard traces back to investigative reporting by journalist Bradley Hope and the intelligence newsletter Whale Hunting, which floated the idea that the Maduro regime may have converted proceeds from gold (GC=F) sales, oil (CL=F, BZ=F) trades and sanctioned intermediaries into crypto over several years.

Their reporting relied on unnamed sources, including one claiming a Swiss lawyer linked to Caracas controlled access to the wallets allegedly holding the stash.

“Sources describe a Swiss lawyer who controls wallet access,” Hope wrote in a co-authored dispatch for Whale Hunting, prompting speculation about whether Alex Saab, Venezuela’s minister of industry and national production and a long-standing US-sanctioned figure, could have played a role in the operation.

The theory spread rapidly through crypto media, but blockchain intelligence firms have so far found no verifiable on-chain evidence of undeclared state bitcoin (BTC-USD) reserves. Analysts say that if hundreds of thousands of BTC had been accumulated and warehoused, it would likely show up as the usual digital fingerprints typical of sovereign crypto holdings.

According to blockchain security firm Chainalysis, the story also reflects a broader reality about crypto in Latin America. Persistent inflation and sanctions have driven massive adoption, with citizens using crypto as a lifeline after hyperinflation. For governments, crypto has reportedly offered a way to bypass US sanctions, particularly through tether and bitcoin (BTC-USD).

Chainalysis highlighted that inflows into sanctioned addresses and jurisdictions across the globe surged by 694% in 2025, coinciding with rising geopolitical tensions, though the data does not specifically confirm Venezuelan state holdings.

If the reserve exists, who controls it now, the Venezuelan state, private intermediaries, trusted operatives abroad, or US authorities? If the reserve never existed, why do US officials appear to be entertaining questions about possible seizure?

SEC chair Paul Atkins’ comments on the mystery bitcoin (BTC-USD) stash landed days before the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to take up the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a bipartisan bill that would finally delineate regulatory oversight questions between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The legislation stalled during a 43-day government crisis last autumn but is expected to advance, with new political urgency and broad support from both financial and technology sectors.

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A companion bill, the Genius Act, passed late last year, marked the first time Congress formally recognised digital assets in federal law. Together, the measures reflect a generational shift in Washington, crypto is no longer being treated as a consumer novelty or market nuisance but as a domain of financial power, technological competitiveness, and national security.

Sceptics argue that Venezuela almost certainly never accumulated a sovereign bitcoin (BTC-USD) reserve on anything close to the scale suggested in rumour and social media chatter.

The corruption and operational dysfunction that have plagued the oil (CL=F, BZ=F) giant PDVSA, once among the most capable energy companies in the world but now producing only a fraction of its former output, make the idea of a $60 bn bitcoin (BTC-USD) reserve difficult to reconcile with reality.

However, the perceived existence does mark a shift in how digital assets are now being discussed in the same context as geopolitics, sanctions policy, and sovereign finance.

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