Venezuela holds 240 bitcoins, analysts estimate its "shadow reserves" may exceed 600,000 bitcoins

PANews reported on January 5 that, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data, Venezuela has held Bitcoin since December 31, 2022, with a current balance of 240 BTC, valued at approximately $22.33 million. Previously, in May 2024, the Venezuelan government banned Bitcoin mining citing energy load and power supply stability. In September 2024, opposition leader María Corina Machado proposed including Bitcoin in the country's reserve assets. Meanwhile, the government-led national digital currency "Petro" ceased circulation in January 2024.

However, some analysts estimate that since 2018, Venezuela has "washed" assets into Bitcoin through gold swaps and settling oil trades in USDT, with an estimated holding of about 600,000 BTC, totaling approximately $56 billion to $67 billion. Some sources indicate that around $2 billion worth of gold was used in 2018 to purchase about 400,000 BTC at an average price of $5,000, which would be worth about $3.6 billion at current prices. This scale is close to the holdings of MicroStrategy and BlackRock. If the US Department of Justice seizes and freezes these assets for a long period, it could result in supply lock-up and short-term volatility, with a low likelihood of rapid liquidation.