Opinion: "Venezuela's $60 billion Bitcoin holdings" claim lacks supporting evidence

BlockBeats News, January 8 — Recent market rumors suggest that the Venezuelan government may secretly hold Bitcoin worth up to $60 billion. However, Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn who has lived in Venezuela and has been engaged in Bitcoin mining for a long time, stated that these claims are more based on speculation and second-hand information, lacking credible on-chain evidence. The three main sources of the related rumors are:

1. A large-scale gold sale in Venezuela in 2018, exchanged for Bitcoin;
2. Some oil revenues settled in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies;
3. The government confiscated or stole mining equipment for mining.

Mauricio admits that Venezuela did indeed receive cryptocurrency in some oil transactions and that there have been cases of the government confiscating mining equipment. However, he emphasizes that there is no credible evidence indicating that the approximately $2.7 billion worth of gold sold in 2018 was converted into Bitcoin. The key figure involved in that transaction, current Minister of Industry and National Production Alex Saab, was detained by the U.S. from 2020 to 2023 and was released at the end of 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange agreement.

If the rumors are true and the government controls Bitcoin valued at $10–20 billion, this would clearly contradict the official reserve size of about $9.9 billion disclosed by the Venezuelan central bank at that time. Moreover, no on-chain address has ever been reliably attributed to Saab or the Venezuelan state.

Furthermore, even if the Venezuelan regime did obtain cryptocurrency income, an extremely corrupt system would make it almost impossible for these funds to enter the national treasury. Mauricio cites the SUNACRIP (National Cryptocurrency Regulatory Agency) corruption scandal exposed in 2023, pointing out that between 2020 and 2023, officials embezzled about $17.6 billion through illegal oil transactions, and crypto asset proceeds are likely similarly embezzled by individuals.

As for the claim of “large-scale mining using confiscated equipment,” Mauricio also dismisses it. He points out that Venezuela has long faced severe power shortages, aging infrastructure, and a large loss of technical personnel. The country struggles to effectively operate core assets like the state oil company PDVSA, let alone maintain stable large-scale Bitcoin mining operations. “Venezuela does have Bitcoin, but they are not in the hands of the regime.”