Did Maduro really hide $60 billion worth of BTC?
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Did Maduro really hide $60 billion worth of BTC?
Does this wealth truly exist? If it does, where is it hidden?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Cathy, Plain Talk Blockchain
In the early hours of January 3, 2026, U.S. Special Forces arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas during a military operation codenamed "Absolute Resolve."
This event sparked a major question in the crypto community: Did the Maduro regime truly possess the rumored "shadow reserves"?
According to a report from the investigative agency Whale Hunting and multiple intelligence sources, an astonishing rumor has been circulating in the market: the Maduro regime might hold between 600,000 and 660,000 bitcoins. If true, this would be worth a staggering $60-67 billion at early 2026 market prices.
What does this mean?
MicroStrategy (now renamed Strategy), the company dubbed the "Bitcoin whale," held over 670,000 BTC as of January 2026, valued at approximately $61.3 billion. If the Venezuela rumor is true, its holdings would be comparable to the world's largest corporate buyer, representing about 3% of Bitcoin's total supply (21 million).
But the question is: Does this fortune actually exist? And if so, where is it hidden?
In the crypto world, there's an ironclad rule: "Not your keys, not your coins."
01 How Did the Rumor Originate?
To understand where the rumor of "600,000 BTC" came from, we first need to examine the theoretical channels through which the Maduro regime could have accumulated Bitcoin. It must be emphasized that the following analysis is based on public reports and intelligence estimates, not established facts.
Channel One: The Petro Scam – Paving the Way for Crypto Adoption
In February 2018, under heavy U.S. sanctions pressure, Maduro announced the launch of the world's first "national cryptocurrency" – the Petro. The government claimed to have raised $735 million on the first day, with a total fundraising target of $6 billion.
However, multiple investigations revealed serious issues with this ICO from the outset.
The Petro was first said to be based on Ethereum, then on NEM, and finally seemed to run on a private chain that didn't exist. The government claimed the Petro was backed by 5.3 billion barrels of crude oil in the Ayacucho Block, but on-site investigations showed dilapidated infrastructure with no extraction activity whatsoever.
The so-called "fundraising" was likely just an internal shuffling of regime assets.
Although the Petro failed, it left a crucial byproduct: Sunacrip (National Superintendency of Crypto Assets). This agency was granted powers to regulate all crypto activities, issue mining licenses, and even directly operate a national mining pool. It wasn't a regulator; it was a state-run money laundering center.
In January 2024, Maduro officially shut down the Petro. This wasn't a failure but a strategic pivot – transitioning from an "issuer" to a "holder," fully embracing Bitcoin and USDT, which have genuine global liquidity.
Channel Two: The PDVSA-Crypto Scandal – $21 Billion Gone Missing
Market rumors suggest the core source of the Maduro regime's Bitcoin reserves might be the diversion of oil export revenues from the state-owned oil company PDVSA.
In 2019, the U.S. imposed comprehensive sanctions on PDVSA, cutting off its access to the global banking system. To survive, PDVSA launched an "anti-blockade" strategy:
Dark Fleet: Using tankers with transponders turned off to ship crude oil to "teapot refineries" (small, non-state-owned refineries) in Asia.
Intermediary Network: Masking the origin of crude oil through shell companies registered in places like the UAE and Russia. These intermediaries often had no oil trading experience; their sole qualification was personal connections to core regime figures.
Crypto Settlement: Unable to receive USD wire transfers, intermediaries were instructed to pay for oil in USDT (Tether).
In March 2023, Venezuela was rocked by the nationwide "PDVSA-Crypto" scandal. An internal government audit revealed that approximately $21 billion in oil export receivables from 2020 to 2023 had gone missing.
Where did this money go? It remains a mystery.
Some intelligence analysts speculate that a portion may have flowed back into regime-controlled wallets via cryptocurrency. Reportedly, Sunacrip established an automated "hopscotch" mechanism:
- Receipt: Intermediaries send USDT to intermediate wallets controlled by Sunacrip.
- Cleaning: Obfuscating the fund trail through mixers like Tornado Cash.
- Exchange: Converting USDT to Bitcoin at OTC desks in Russia or Eastern Europe.
- Storage: Bitcoin transferred to offline-generated cold wallets, with private keys held by the highest echelons of the regime.
The core designers of this system were Tareck El Aissami (former Oil Minister) and Alex Saab (the regime's "financial diplomat"). El Aissami resigned in March 2023 and was arrested in April 2024 on corruption charges, facing accusations of treason, money laundering, and more. Assets he controlled were likely confiscated by the Maduro family.
Saab returned to Venezuela in a December 2023 prisoner swap with the U.S., exchanged for 10 American prisoners, highlighting his irreplaceability in Maduro's eyes – an importance likely stemming from his control over the financial lifeline.
Channel Three: Military Mining – "National Hashrate" from Confiscated Miners
Beyond oil revenue, another theory suggests the Venezuelan regime might have directly produced Bitcoin by controlling the "means of production."
Venezuela has some of the world's cheapest electricity, primarily from the Guri Dam. This makes Bitcoin mining highly profitable. The Maduro government monopolized this advantage through a military commercial entity – CAMIMPEG (Military Company for Mining, Petroleum, and Gas).
CAMIMPEG established "Bolivarian Army Digital Asset Production Centers." These military mining farms enjoyed privileges:
- Guaranteed Power: Priority electricity supply amid nationwide frequent blackouts.
- Security: Heavily guarded by the National Guard.
- Zero-Cost Operation: With electricity effectively free (state-subsidized), marginal costs were near zero.
But where did the equipment for these military farms come from? Largely from the confiscation of private miners.
Starting in 2020, Sunacrip, in conjunction with the military, launched a series of raids on private mining operations:
- 2020: National Guard seized 315 Antminer S9 units in Bolívar State.
- 2023: Raided the headquarters of the gang "Aragua Train" in Tocorón Prison, seizing numerous miners and weapons.
- 2024: In Maracay, a single operation confiscated over 2,300 Antminer S19J Pro units.
According to intelligence estimates, between 2020 and 2025, the government may have acquired tens of thousands of mining machines through confiscations from private farms and gang facilities. These devices were not destroyed but redeployed to CAMIMPEG-controlled facilities.
Based on the known thousands of high-performance miners, plus output from state-owned farms, this "zombie army" may have produced tens of thousands of Bitcoin over the past several years.
02 Data Sources and Skepticism Regarding the "600,000 BTC" Rumor
Key question: Is this number credible?
Based on intelligence reports from Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and the investigative agency "Whale Hunting," the circulating estimate is 600,000 to 660,000 BTC. However, it must be emphasized:
This number comes solely from intelligence sources, not hard, traceable on-chain data.
No public on-chain evidence supports this figure.
The Whale Hunting report explicitly states: "This estimate is derived from HUMINT (Human Intelligence) and is not confirmed by blockchain analysis."
Nevertheless, the report provides a hypothetical breakdown:
Is this rumor logically plausible?
Supporters' arguments:
MicroStrategy Comparison: MicroStrategy (now Strategy) held over 670,000 BTC as of January 2026. A sovereign state theoretically has the capacity to reach a similar scale.
Financial Backing: PDVSA had $21 billion unaccounted for between 2020-2023. If 50% of that was converted to Bitcoin at average prices of the time, it could purchase 300,000
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
白话区块链
