Maduro Ousted, "Unlocks" $60 Billion Bitcoin "Shadow Reserve," Will Reshape Global Market Landscape

BlockBeats News, January 5th, analyst Serenity revealed that, based on publicly available information, the Maduro regime in Venezuela has accumulated a "shadow reserve" worth over $60 billion in Bitcoin and USDT. Starting in 2018, this reserve was built through "gold swaps" and "demanding settlement in USDT for oil exports" to circumvent sanctions. Following the failure of Venezuela's "petrocoin" experiment, the Maduro regime shifted to using USDT as a substitute for the US dollar during oil sales. Upon realizing that USDT still has frozen address functionality, Venezuela began converting USDT to Bitcoin. Venezuela's approximate holdings can be estimated as follows:

Bitcoin accumulated through gold swaps from 2018 to 2020, with gold profits 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 approximately $10 billion to $15 billion;

Bitcoin seized through mining raids 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 of over 660,000, with a minimum of 600,000. Even if Maduro is currently detained, it does not mean that the U.S. has complete control over these bitcoins; a significant interrogation surrounding Maduro will follow, potentially reshaping the global Bitcoin market landscape.