Paul Atkins, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has expressed uncertainty about whether the U.S will seize the alleged $60 billion in Bitcoin held by Venezuela.
When asked whether the U.S government would go for the BTC stash in a recent interview with Fox Business, he said,
“That remains to be seen. But I’m not involved with that, and I’ll leave it for others in the Administration to deal with that.”
Following recent U.S ownership claims on Venezuelan oil after capturing President Nicolas Maduro, there has been speculation that it could go for its alleged $60 billion worth of BTC.
However, at the time of writing, the existence of Venezuela’s purported Bitcoin stash was yet to be proven.
Even the blockchain intelligence platform Arkham was yet to verify the Bitcoin stash claims. In a recent statement, Matteo Colledan, VP of Business development at Arkham, said,
“We have not identified any such holdings at present. We are still assessing whether any holdings exist.”
Assessing Venezuela’s crypto adoption
Venezuela emerged as the fourth-largest country in LATAM based on the value of cryptocurrency received between mid-2024 and mid-2025, according to Chainalysis data. It received $44.6 billion during this period.
Source: Chainalysis
According to the blockchain security firm Chainalysis, the massive adoption of crypto in LATAM has been fueled by persistent inflation and sanctions. For citizens, it emerged as a new lifeline after hyperinflation.
However, for the Venezuelan government, it was reportedly a tool to bypass U.S sanctions on its oil sector, particularly through USDT and Bitcoin. Sanctioned crypto flows featured prominently in illicit crypto activities in 2025, from Venezuela to Russia.
In fact, Chainalysis highlighted that inflows into sanctioned addresses and jurisdictions surged by 694% in 2025. This coincided with a rise in geopolitical tensions.
Source: Chainalysis
The most preferred crypto assets to circumvent capital controls have become stablecoins and Bitcoin.
Worth pointing out, however, that speculations have placed the alleged “shadowy” Venezuelan BTC stash at around 600,000 coins. That would be worth $56.4 billion at the press time market price of $94k per coin.
Alas, at the time of writing, the official and verified BTC currently held by the Venezuelan government was worth only $22.61 million (240 BTC), according to Bitcoin Treasuries data. It remains to be seen whether the rest of the alleged stash will be fully accounted for.
Final Thoughts
- SEC Chair Paul Atkins expressed uncertainty about the U.S government’s next steps regarding the alleged Venezuelan crypto stash.
- At press time, verified Venezuelan government addresses held only $22.6 million worth of BTC.