Skeptics dismiss claims of Venezuela's 600K BTC 'shadow reserve' as US rumors

The US government claims that Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has hoarded billions in oil revenue, gold reserves, and other state assets. According to unverified reports, the leader in US custody may have converted the property to a “shadow reserve” of Bitcoin and Tether.

The largely unverified claims suggest that Caracas may have converted these assets into crypto to evade sanctions and scrutiny from the US Treasury. The Maduro regime liquidated approximately 73 tons of gold between 2018 and 2020, valued at roughly $2.7 billion at the time. 

According to intelligence reporting from Whale Hunting, citing anonymous sources, this gold was converted into about 400,000 BTC.

The remaining portion of the alleged Bitcoin reserve is tied to oil revenues collected in late 2025, when Venezuela settled around 80% of its crude exports in USDT. These proceeds were reportedly “washed” into BTC to prevent account freezes and protect against US sanctions.

Does Venezuela secretly have Bitcoin and USDT holdings?

In 2018, Venezuela launched its own native cryptocurrency called the Petro, which Maduro forced down the throat of government and travel agencies, mandating services to be paid exclusively in the token. Even after years of pushing Petro’s adoption, the Venezuelan government finally closed down the project in 2024 and sold all of its reserves. 

Intelligence claims suggest Venezuela may control a massive #Bitcoin “shadow reserve” of up to 600,000 BTC. pic.twitter.com/1vAdC66Qvn

— TFTC (@TFTC21) January 4, 2026

During the “Petro-fied” economy, Caracas reportedly used Tether as a proxy to keep up oil sales while avoiding sanctions, then converted much of it back into Bitcoin. The uncorroborated estimates of the regime’s total cryptocurrency holdings are between 600,000 to 660,000 BTC, worth between $56 billion and $67 billion at current prices. 

A breakdown of the speculated assets includes gold swaps from 2018–2020 valued at $45 billion to $50 billion, oil settlements from 2023–2025 worth $10 billion to $15 billion, and mining seizures between 2023 and 2024 totaling around $500 million.

Alex Saab, the businessman who supposedly led the building of this Bitcoin accumulation network, has been deemed a DEA informant since 2016.

Were Bitcoin reserve rumors started to bring down Bitcoin’s price?

The rumors of Venezuela’s crypto reserves are against the backdrop of Bitcoin’s modest value uptick on Monday. The largest coin by market cap went up by as much as 2.3% to $93,323 over the weekend, its highest level since December 11. 

Some online commentators claim the US government is spreading misinformation of the 600,000 BTC figure to “drive Bitcoin’s price down again.”

“This is bullshit… Maduro tried to negotiate for $40million per the US gov’t…. if they had $60 billion in bitcoin he would have just taken it and gone to Russia…. This reporting makes absolutely no sense,” said crypto user PiercoSci.

The tense relationship between the US and Venezuela began in the late 1990s following the election of Hugo Chávez, a socialist leader whose policies clashed with American interests. An early US-backed attempt to remove Chávez in a 2002 coup deepened the mistrust on both sides.

After Chávez’s death from cancer in 2013, Nicolás Maduro assumed the presidency, which economists argue led to a severe economic decline, mass emigration, and increasing authoritarianism prevalent after a contested 2018 election.

“In Venezuela, the currency has devalued 99.99999% over the last decade! Imagine working a 60-hour week, only for your paycheck to lose its value before you even reach the grocery store. Nobody stops to pick up that worthless money on the street,” claimed one netizen.

The Trump administration had slapped Maduro’s regime with sanctions, military threats, but it finally removed Maduro from office over the weekend. President Trump sought blockades on Venezuelan oil and staged strikes against vessels alleged to be involved in drug trafficking. 

As Cryptopolitan reported, satellite images and local news outlets reported airstrikes on military bases, although cities and densely populated areas were not affected as much. Observers expressed surprise at the operation’s scale, noting that both Maduro and international analysts likely assumed US threats were limited to negotiation tactics or a bluff.

“Everyone is flabbergasted that this has happened. Maduro himself thought this was a bluff or a negotiating tactic to force him from power or trigger a military coup. Instead, it’s come to this, in such a spectacular fashion,” said political commentator Tom Phillips.

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