You've seen many crashes and liquidations in the crypto market, but compared to the real-life national financial crises, these fluctuations are just child's play. There was an incident in Venezuela that’s worth taking a close look at.

Here's what happened. Around 2013, the Venezuelan government secretly shipped 113 tons of gold from the national reserves to Switzerland. This wasn’t a routine diversified investment; the underlying logic was heartbreaking—by then, the country's economy was on the brink of collapse. The economy, which was originally supported by oil exports, plummeted as oil prices crashed, foreign exchange reserves dried up, and people struggled even to get basic supplies. The government had no choice but to take out its "last resort" gold reserves to exchange for dollars and keep going.

How much was that 113 tons of gold worth? At the time’s prices, roughly $5.2 billion. You might think that’s not a huge number, but it represented the last financial safety net of a nation. Once liquidated, it meant the final line of defense was gone.

What’s more ironic is that this approach didn’t last long. By 2017, Western sanctions came into effect, and Switzerland cut off gold trading, making this "selling gold for foreign exchange" plan completely unfeasible.

What lessons does this story offer to the crypto world? Essentially—when a country's financial system encounters problems, traditional safe-haven assets like gold may not always be effective because they are still affected by geopolitical issues and sanctions. Compared to assets frozen in a specific country's accounts, decentralized asset allocation strategies might be the real long-term insurance. That’s also why some people see cryptocurrencies as part of a strategic portfolio.