BlockBeats news: On January 6, recent U.S. actions against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro have once again sparked discussions about whether Venezuela holds "undisclosed Bitcoin reserves." Investigative journalist Bradley Hope claimed that the Venezuelan government may have converted gold into Bitcoin over the years, with a potential scale of up to 600,000 BTC, valued at approximately $60 billion.
However, multiple major blockchain analytics firms have not found any on-chain evidence to support this claim. The 60,000 BTC proposed by Hope is not based on on-chain data, but rather a mathematical estimation derived from Venezuela's gold sales since 2018.
Frank Weert, co-founder of Whale Alert, stated that if Venezuela truly holds such a large amount of Bitcoin, it would be nearly impossible to completely avoid tracking by blockchain analysis firms. He said that the relevant claims require "very strong evidence."
Nevertheless, analysts noted that Venezuela has indeed been making long-term efforts to use cryptocurrencies. The country launched its state-backed digital currency, the Petro, pegged to oil, and has used cryptocurrency payments in energy and cross-border transactions. Affected by high inflation in its local currency, Venezuela ranked within the top 20 globally in cryptocurrency adoption in 2025.
Currently, the holdings of official Venezuelan crypto assets remain highly opaque. Multiple institutions, including Arkham, Chainalysis, and Elliptic, have not confirmed the existence of large-scale Bitcoin wallets directly linked to the government. Analysts suggest that even if such assets exist, they may be highly concealed through mixers, cross-chain transactions, and offshore OTC channels.