Recently, claims about Venezuela's potential Bitcoin reserves have resurfaced. Investigative journalist Bradley Hope claims that the country may have exchanged gold for Bitcoin over the past few years, totaling 600,000 coins with an approximate value of $60 billion. Sounds shocking, right?

But here’s the problem — blockchain analysis firms collectively threw cold water on the idea. Frank Weert, co-founder of Whale Alert, directly stated that if there were really that many Bitcoins on the chain, it would be nearly impossible to remain completely anonymous. Such claims require "very strong evidence." Moreover, the figure of 600,000 BTC proposed by Hope is not derived from on-chain data but is a mathematical calculation based on Venezuela’s gold sales since 2018.

Top on-chain analysis agencies like Arkhana, Chainalysis, and Elliptic have yet to find any concrete evidence.

However, from another perspective, Venezuela is indeed serious about crypto. They launched Petro, a digital currency backed by oil, used for crypto payments in energy and cross-border transactions. In a situation where the local currency is rapidly depreciating, cryptocurrencies have long become a part of everyday life for the local people. In the 2025 global crypto adoption ranking, Venezuela has firmly entered the top 20.

But how much crypto assets does the government actually hold? That remains a mystery. The information is highly opaque, and the outside world can only guess.