Venezuela could be sitting on a big Bitcoin stash, experts say. Here’s what could happen next

Following President Nicolás Maduro’s deposition last weekend, all eyes are on Venezuela and its vast oil reserves. But there’s another resource Maduro’s regime is believed to have had in abundance – an asset that, if liquidated or seized, would have implications for global financial markets: bitcoin.

Venezuela is likely sitting on sizable amounts of the cryptocurrency – a stash that could be worth billions of U.S. dollars, experts told CNBC. 

“It’s very fair to assume Venezuela had meaningful exposure to bitcoin,” said Gui Gomes, founder and CEO of Latin America-based bitcoin firm OranjeBTC. “Given that they were excluded from the global financial system, probably they had gold, bitcoin and some dollars under their mattress.”

Sanctions levied against Venezuela restricted the nation’s access to financial markets. To work around this, the country likely experimented with cryptocurrencies, experts said. They noted that it’s virtually impossible to ascertain the exact amount of bitcoin Venezuela may be sitting on, or where those holdings could be stored, due to the privacy features of the decentralized asset and its underlying technology. However, one thing is clear: If Maduro and his allies have tokens in their coffers, the assets might soon be on the move, they said. And whether those bitcoins are sold, confiscated or exchanged, cryptocurrency holders could feel the impact. 

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.

Data provider Bitcointreasuries.net puts Venezuela’s holdings at 240 bitcoin, worth roughly $22 million. To reach this estimate they used data from a blockchain analytics firm that was cited by a media outlet. Based on their rankings, it would the ninth largest pile of bitcoin held by a government entity.

All these estimates must be taken with a grain of salt. Many of the largest firms offering crypto custodial solutions, including digital asset bank Anchorage Digital and Fireblocks, are registered in the U.S. or allied nations, so Venezuela would have had to turn to more covert techniques to amass its shadow reserve, Haun Ventures general partner Diogo Mónica told CNBC. 

“There are so many [solutions] for bitcoin off the shelf, it is actually very easy for you to meet the threshold of high security” through those means, Mónica said. 

As a result, any bitcoin held by Venezuela is likely distributed across thousands of crypto wallets under the control of various generals and other members of Maduro’s party, making difficult to identify and track, according to OranjeBTC’s Gomes.

On-chain analysis can reveal transaction histories and balances of public addresses linked to hardware wallets, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. But those methods cannot offer conclusive insights into wallet owners’ identities, making it difficult for cybercrime experts to identify which wallets belong to Venezuelan officials.

That said, it’s still probable that Venezuela could have amassed large amounts of bitcoin in recent years to navigate the consequences of its exclusion from global financial markets, Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, told CNBC. 

He noted that the country has a history of using unorthodox methods to convert and transfer its wealth, including by flying allies of Maduro to foreign locales to exchange tangible assets for more liquid funds.

“If they’re willing to send a guy on a private jet with a ton of gold on board, it would make a lot of sense that they would also seek to utilize crypto assets for both store of wealth and also for cross border trade,” Fierman said. He declined to estimate the value of Venezuela’s holdings.  

The South American nation also has a long history of experimenting with cryptocurrencies, Fierman said. He cited the issuance in 2018 of a token called petro, which later failed and was sunsetted in 2024, as an example. 

Given its history with digital assets, it’s also possible the Venezuelan government holds other cryptocurrencies besides bitcoin, including stablecoins, according to Fierman.

However, bitcoin would likely be the favored asset as it is issued by an agnostic network and has no direct ties to the U.S. dollar, unlike most stablecoins, said Jorge Jraissati, president of the nonprofit Economic Inclusion Group. He added that some of the regime’s bitcoins could have been acquired through local authorities’ seizures of crypto miners’ token rewards. 

In 2017, CNBC reported on Venezuelan authorities’ efforts to curb crypto mining by arresting bitcoin miners and seizing their assets. That was before the nation completely outlawed the practice in 2024, citing energy concerns. 

Data from Hashrate index shows that Venezuela still accounted for about 0.6% of all hashrates, a measure of power used to mine tokens on the bitcoin blockchain as of 2025. 

Assuming Venezuela holds bitcoin, speculation abounds on what happens next. One possibility is that the Maduro regime will go up for sale, according to Sebastian Pedro Bea, president and chief investment officer at ReserveOne.

“Anytime you have a chaotic regime change, the assets of that country become unstable, like people can just steal stuff,” Bea said. “I’m not suggesting that’s likely, but it is more likely today than last week that, if they have bitcoin, some of that bitcoin could end up on exchange, or could end up being sold.”

That sell-off could dent bitcoin’s price in the near-term.

Alternatively, the U.S. could seize Venezuela’s bitcoin as part of its enforcement actions, according to Bea. 

“Nothing is stopping the U.S. from doing more enforcement actions that go after bad actors [in Venezuela] who could happen to have a lot of bitcoin,” Bea said. “And when they do that, that bitcoin can go right to Treasury.”

Some cryptocurrency holders have speculated the Trump administration could confiscate some of Maduro and his allies’ bitcoin, with the aim creating a U.S. bitcoin reserve at no cost to taxpayers.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a strategic bitcoin reserve at no cost to taxpayers – a central tenet of his pro-crypto policy plans. However, critics and proponents alike have questioned the logistics of the proposal, including how bitcoin could be accumulated in a tax-neutral way.

Chris Perkins, managing partner and president of investment firm CoinFund, said it’s unclear whether the U.S. could legally use Venezuela’s bitcoin to create its planned strategic reserve. However, such a scenario would ultimately be bullish for the asset, according to the executive.

“… To the extent that the Trump administration comes into possession of a significant amount of bitcoin, don’t expect them to dump it into the market,” said Perkins, who served as a U.S. marine. 

Whatever happens next, the U.S.’ recent actions in Venezuela underscore the Trump administration’s ability and willingness to wield its power to advance its policy objectives, which include promoting and advancing the digital assets industry, according to Bea.

“Crypto seems to be an unintended beneficiary, long term, of the [U.S. military intervention in Venezuela],” Bea said.