Maduro's Bitcoin Hunt: How Much Cryptocurrency Could Trump Receive

While the general public debates why the U.S. needs Venezuela and what Donald Trump plans to do with the country's oil reserves, the crypto community discusses something else — what will happen to Maduro's bitcoins.

How many bitcoins does Maduro have? This is where discrepancies begin. What is confirmed: according to public on-chain trackers, Venezuela's confirmed bitcoin balance is about 240 BTC. At current prices, this is approximately $22.11 million.

These are the only figures that can be directly verified on the blockchain, but there is other information as well.

Meanwhile, rumors about Venezuela's shadow reserve of up to 600,000 BTC are actively circulating in the crypto community. It is important to clarify right away: this is not a fact, but an unverified estimate. The source of these versions is the analytical newsletter Whale Hunting. According to HUMINT, that is, information from sources close to the intelligence community, the Maduro regime allegedly could have controlled bitcoins worth up to $60 billion.

Here’s where Venezuela could have obtained bitcoins:

– conversion of part of gold revenues into bitcoin between 2018 and 2020;

– oil payments in stablecoins followed by conversion into bitcoin;

– confiscations from miners and the story with the Petro project.

This is where the figure of 600,000–660,000 BTC comes from, or about 3% of the total bitcoin supply. For comparison, under U.S. control, there are only 198,012 BTC, or less than 1% of the cryptocurrency's issuance.

The context is set by the position of the U.S. Treasury. In August 2025, the Treasury Secretary stated outright that the U.S. would not purchase bitcoin on the market for strategic reserves. It is planned to be formed exclusively from confiscated coins.

At the same time, the U.S. is already the largest state holder of BTC. All coins were obtained through confiscations. Therefore, any large seizures, including potential assets of the Maduro regime, are automatically viewed by the market as a potential addition to the strategic reserve.

If America confiscates the crypto of the former Venezuelan leader, the country's crypto reserve could reach up to 4% of the BTC issuance. For comparison, the largest BTC-ETF, iShares Bitcoin Trust (Blackrock), holds bitcoins amounting to 3.67%, which is an absolute record.