Analyst: Venezuela's $60 billion Bitcoin shadow reserves will reshape the global market landscape

Analyst Serenity revealed that, based on publicly available information, the Maduro regime in Venezuela has accumulated a shadow reserve of over $60 billion in Bitcoin and USDT, established since 2018 through gold swaps and demands for oil exports to be settled in USDT to evade sanctions.

Previously, due to the failure of Venezuela's oil-backed cryptocurrency experiment, the Maduro regime turned to USDT as an alternative to oil dollars during crude oil sales. As they realized that USDT still has the capability to freeze addresses, Venezuela began converting USDT into Bitcoin.

The estimated holdings of Venezuela can be summarized as follows: Bitcoin accumulated through gold swaps from 2018 to 2020, with gold revenues converted to Bitcoin at an average price of $5,000, currently valued at approximately $45 billion to $50 billion; Bitcoin obtained from oil exports from 2023 to 2025, currently valued at about $10 billion to $15 billion; Bitcoin seized from mining operations from 2023 to 2024, approximately $500 million. Overall, the total value of BTC accumulated by Venezuela from 2018 to 2026 is estimated to be around $56 billion to $67 billion, implying a Bitcoin quantity exceeding 660,000, with a minimum of 600,000.

Even if Maduro is currently arrested, it does not mean that the U.S. has completely taken control of these Bitcoins. A significant trial surrounding Maduro will unfold next, reshaping the global Bitcoin market landscape.