Overview
- U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro and transported him to the United States, shifting the investigation to any state-controlled crypto assets.
- Intelligence accounts describe a cache of roughly 600,000–660,000 BTC accumulated since 2018 through gold sales, oil payments routed via USDT, and seized mining operations.
- No on-chain proof has surfaced to validate the claim, and authorities and rivals have yet to locate the private keys said to control the wallets.
- Court records identify Alex Saab, tied to the system’s architecture, as a DEA informant since 2016, raising questions about what U.S. agencies knew during the buildup.
- Analysts outline U.S. choices that include freezing the assets, designating a strategic reserve, or auctioning coins, with any action carrying market significance given the alleged trove equals about 3% of BTC supply and far exceeds Germany’s 2024 50,000 BTC sale.