Following President Nicolás Maduro’s deposition last weekend, all eyes are on Venezuela and its vast oil reserves. But there’s another resource Maduro’s regime is believed to have had in abundance – an asset that, if liquidated or seized, would have implications for global financial markets: bitcoin
Venezuela is likely sitting on sizable amounts of the cryptocurrency – a stash that could be worth billions of U.S. dollars, experts told CNBC.
“It’s very fair to assume Venezuela had meaningful exposure to bitcoin,” said Gui Gomes, founder and CEO of Latin America-based bitcoin firm OranjeBTC. “Given that they were excluded from the global financial system, probably they had gold, bitcoin and some dollars under their mattress.”
Sanctions levied against Venezuela restricted the nation’s access to financial markets. To work around this, the country likely experimented with cryptocurrencies, experts said. They noted that it’s virtually impossible to ascertain the exact amount of bitcoin Venezuela may be sitting on, or where those holdings could be stored, due to the privacy features of the decentralized asset and its underlying technology. However, one thing is clear: If Maduro and his allies have tokens in their coffers, the assets might soon be on the move, they said. And whether those bitcoins are sold, confiscated or exchanged, cryptocurrency holders could feel the impact.
