Written by: Nancy, PANews
The "mindless thrillers" that were once ridiculed have surprisingly become a reality. The raid scene from the American TV series "Jack Ryan" seven years ago recently played out in real life in Venezuela, with President Maduro and his wife being captured in the dead of night, leaving many in disbelief.
As the regime changed overnight, global attention unexpectedly turned to this country mired in inflation. In addition to its restructured oil resources, rumors suggest that Venezuela has secretly established a "shadow reserve" of over $60 billion in Bitcoin, a staggering hidden fortune that is now attracting market interest and speculation.
Gold Converted to Bitcoin for "Hedging," USDT Becomes Hard Currency
The U.S. launched a raid on Venezuela, waking the entire city from its slumber. Tension, fear, and unease enveloped the streets as people held their breath, grappling with the uncertainty of the future in both their lives and minds.
Reports indicate that some local wealthy individuals are converting gold into Bitcoin to avoid physical risks, as gold is cumbersome to carry, while Bitcoin offers flexibility and anonymity.
In fact, in today's Venezuela, cryptocurrencies have deeply penetrated daily life, becoming important means for hedging, trading, and wealth storage.
Here, the fiat currency bolívar, which once represented national credit, has devolved into worthless paper found everywhere on the streets; meanwhile, crypto assets like USDT and Bitcoin have become the hard currency that people rely on for survival.
Venezuela was supposed to be a wealthy nation, sitting on the world's largest oil reserves, accounting for 17% of the global proven total, even surpassing the oil kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, this once prosperous country, which ranked fourth in the world in GDP per capita, has fallen into a deep abyss due to long-term political and economic management issues. Today, there are no oil tycoons throwing money around, only citizens struggling in the quagmire of inflation.
In extreme inflation, the sovereign currency has lost its credibility and weight. People carry bags of cash for transactions, ATMs are perpetually emptied, bolívares are made into crafts for sale, and even robbers must carry POS machines during their crimes.
The people of Venezuela have been forced into a financial migration.
According to Chainalysis's 2025 report, Venezuela ranks 18th in the global cryptocurrency adoption index, with a crypto trading volume of up to $44.6 billion from July 2024 to June 2025. José Gregorio Rodríguez, chairman of the Venezuelan Commercial Services Council, revealed last month that over 30% of businesses, service industries, and enterprises in the country have begun using cryptocurrencies.
Today, stablecoins have become the de facto digital dollar in Venezuela's daily business activities, with many turning to USDT and other dollar-pegged stablecoins as their preferred settlement tools. The amount of USDT used by the Venezuelan government in public and private payment settlements has even at times exceeded that of cash dollars.
Locals often jokingly refer to USDT as "Binance dollars," as the P2P (peer-to-peer) trading of the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, dominates the local market. People buy and sell USDT or other assets through this platform, and many merchants, due to government crackdowns on black market exchange rate platforms, directly reference the real-time USDT/bolívar exchange rate on Binance for pricing and settlement.
Moreover, even Venezuela's crucial oil industry primarily settles in USDT. According to local economist Asdrubal Oliveros, it was revealed late last year that about 80% of Venezuela's crude oil sales revenue is settled in the stablecoin USDT. At that time, the country's oil production had grown to over 1 million barrels per day, generating annual revenue exceeding $12 billion. This illustrates the extent of USDT's popularity in Venezuela.
The First Country to Issue Tokens, Allegedly Holding Over 600,000 Bitcoins
Venezuela has also become one of the earliest "crab-eating" pioneers in cryptocurrency among sovereign nations.
In 2018, to combat U.S. economic sanctions, Venezuela became the first country to "eat crabs." The Maduro government launched the Petro, a cryptocurrency backed by the country's oil reserves. From a financial innovation perspective, this was not only the world's first legal digital currency but also seen as an early attempt at RWA tokenization.
However, trust is Venezuela's scarcest resource. Despite the government's strong push, the Petro was difficult for the public to understand and was deemed a scam, ultimately leading to the failure of this six-year experiment. In 2024, the government officially closed the Petro crypto wallet, converting remaining assets into local currency.
In 2022, the Venezuelan government also attempted to legalize the cryptocurrency mining industry and incorporate it into the national regulatory framework, requiring miners to hold licenses.
Due to extremely cheap electricity, crypto mining once flourished in Venezuela. The profits from a single Ethereum or Bitcoin mining machine could often support a family. The Venezuelan military even converted camps into massive mining centers and established dedicated repair centers to refurbish and fix mining machines.
However, a shocking scandal changed everything. The state-owned oil company (PDVSA) used USDT to bypass sanctions and sell oil, leading to the mysterious disappearance or misappropriation of about $21 billion in revenue. Following the corruption incident, the government's attitude towards cryptocurrencies shifted dramatically, and it banned mining under the pretext of regulating excessive energy consumption, confiscating thousands of devices. Due to the lack of a stablecoin business environment in Venezuela, local exchanges have not developed.
However, as the U.S. tightened oil sanctions on Venezuela again in the past two years, Maduro proposed to revisit the crypto path. The potential crypto reserves of this early participant have once again drawn market attention due to U.S. military actions.
According to analyst Serenity's in-depth disclosures based on public information, the Maduro regime is alleged to have quietly established a vast crypto shadow empire. It is estimated that Venezuela may control between $56 billion to $67 billion in crypto assets, with implied Bitcoin holdings possibly exceeding 660,000 coins. If this data is accurate, Venezuela would rise to become the fourth-largest holder of Bitcoin globally.
Further analysis by Serenity indicates that from 2018 to 2020, Venezuela reportedly exchanged gold for Bitcoin. According to historical data from The Wilson Center and Reuters, the Maduro regime liquidated about 73 tons of gold at that time, valued at approximately $2.7 billion, and Whale Hunting intelligence disclosed that this gold was immediately exchanged for 400,000 Bitcoins to evade U.S. Treasury freezes, with an average price of $5,000, now worth about $4.5 billion to $5 billion;
From 2023 to 2025, Venezuela obtained Bitcoin through crude oil exports, currently valued at about $10 billion to $15 billion. Previously, due to the failure of the Petro experiment, Venezuela turned to USDT as a substitute for oil dollars during crude oil sales. Upon realizing that USDT has the function of freezing addresses, Venezuela began converting USDT into Bitcoin. According to local economist Asdrubal Oliveros, it was revealed late last year that about 80% of Venezuela's crude oil sales revenue is currently settled in stablecoins (especially USDT). At that time, the country's oil production had grown to over 1 million barrels per day, generating annual revenue exceeding $12 billion;
During the period from 2023 to 2024, Venezuela also seized about $500 million in Bitcoin through mining crackdowns.
It is rumored that the private keys to these assets are held by a small group of trusted agents, with key figures including Venezuela's Minister of Industry and National Production, Alex Saab, who use mixers, cold wallets, and other methods to obscure the flow of assets.
Although the inference of a "shadow reserve" is compelling and aligns with Venezuela's logic of evading sanctions, there is currently a lack of direct on-chain evidence. According to publicly tracked data from Bitcoin Treasuries, Venezuela has confirmed holdings of only 240 BTC (approximately $22.33 million) since the end of 2022.
Now, with Maduro's future uncertain, if such a large Bitcoin reserve truly exists, whether it will be confiscated by the U.S. government remains uncertain.
Regardless of the true scale of holdings, for the Maduro government and other sanctioned economies, the significance of crypto assets has long transcended financial innovation itself. They serve as a medium of exchange for ordinary people's livelihoods and have become a weapon for the nation to maintain survival and circumvent global financial blockades. A quiet arms race in cryptocurrency has already begun among sovereign nations worldwide.
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