The post Don’t hold your breath for Venezuela’s bitcoin appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Recent speculation suggests that the Venezuelan regime could hold a secret stash of bitcoin, potentially valued at upwards of $60 billion. But the claim appears to be rooted in conjecture and secondhand reporting, lacking credible onchain evidence tying those funds to state-controlled wallets. As a born and raised Venezuelan who mined bitcoin in the country for years, I don’t believe the Venezuelan regime holds a massive secret stash of bitcoin, and I’ll explain why. First, let’s break down the allegations. The claims from several articles suggest that the sources for the regime’s bitcoin stash were: 1) A large gold sale, swapped for bitcoin in 2018; 2) Oil revenue priced in bitcoin; and 3) Stolen/seized mining equipment. I do believe, and it has also been reported, that Venezuela received payment for some oil sales in crypto. And I know for a fact that it stole mining equipment — some of it was my family’s. I haven’t seen credible evidence that the 2018 gold sale was converted into bitcoin, and given what we know about the key players, it’s unlikely. Why is it unlikely that the alleged $2.7 billion gold sale back in 2018 was converted to bitcoin? The operation’s alleged mastermind, Alex Saab, the current minister of industry and national production, was in U.S. custody from 2020 to 2023. Former President Joe Biden’s administration released him back to Venezuela in December 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange. At the time of his release, according to swirling speculation, the amount of BTC he controlled would have been worth an estimated $10-$20 billion. For context, the Venezuelan Central Bank’s listed reserves at the time of his release were ~$9.9 billion, and those official reserves did not include any publicly identified BTC disclosures. If Saab truly controlled ~2X the Venezuelan Central Bank reported…

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Filed under: News - @ January 6, 2026 11:29 pm