Bitcoin News Blast: US’ Strike on Venezuela & Venezuela’s Bitcoin Reserves

US’ Strike on Venezuela & Venezuela’s Bitcoin Reserves - Decrypt

The U.S. capture of Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro had crude oil futures drop to as low as $56.6 per barrel, their lowest since February 2021. Washington said its operation was tied to superseding U.S. indictments alleging Maduro and senior allies of drug trafficking and corruption. Chevron shares surged 11%, a movement that financial markets commentary outlet Kobeissi Letter noted reflected expectations that U.S. control could unlock additional Venezuelan energy supply. Crypto markets remained relatively stable, with Bitcoin and Ethereum notching up about 1% each.

Additionally, Blockchain intelligence firms and former officials have long alleged that Caracas quietly accumulated Bitcoin and stablecoins through commodity-linked transactions. Those claims, which Venezuela has never acknowledged, suggest crypto functioned not just as a civilian lifeline but as a parallel settlement layer for state-linked trade when access to dollars and correspondent banks narrowed. The country’s Bitcoin and crypto holdings are estimate, but not confirmed, to be around $60 billion, which would be higher than the $18 billion that the US holds in Bitcoin reserves.

Venezuela has relied on crypto as a workaround amid sanctions, a currency collapse, and banking dysfunction. In 2018, Maduro launched the petro as a state-issued cryptocurrency backed by Venezuelan oil and mineral reserves in an effort to circumvent U.S. sanctions and attract foreign financing, though it failed to gain traction and was later discontinued. Further restrictions on the country’s access to the global financial system have propelled stablecoins to serve as a de facto dollar substitute for everyday commerce. While this has benefited civilians and businesses, observers warn that the same channels can be used to circumvent sanctions and reroute trade and energy payments.

How it impacts you? Another country, another US takeover, what else is new? Before it was Saddam Hussein and Iraq and Gaddafi in Libya for its oil reserves and now we’re going after Venezuela for its oil, minerals, and of course, most probably, Bitcoin. Let’s not buy into the narrative that this it is only about “drug trafficking” considering the elites’ drug of choice is, you guessed it, cocaína. Just like how the US attacked Iraq for WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction) we’re doing the same thing to Venezuela. We can have it, but you can’t! Please lets keep our eyes open on this one folks. We’ve been duped by our government too many times.

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