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- 🛢️ Trump Eyes Maduro’s Secret Stash
$BTC ( ▲ 0.16% ) dumped and pumped $2K overnight 🌀
Last night, it took a sharp dive down to $91.2K, only to bounce right back up like nothing ever happened.
→ Around $370 million got liquidated in just 12 hours. The way BTC whipped around is wilder than a racing boy tearing up the streets at 2 AM 🙏
Here’s what we got for you today:
👀 Everything traders must watch out in 2026
⭐ Trump secured Venezuela’s oil. BTC next?
⭐ Unlock Venezuela’s “shadow BTC vault”
🔥 Burning hot takes for the road
If you are staring at your portfolio wondering why 2025 isn't the "moon mission" everyone promised, this article is the exact answer.
It’s more of a "stay sane" post. It’ll help you zoom out and stop worrying about every little dip. Shout out to our trader: Eugene Le (as always!) for researching & writing this 👇
🛢️ TRUMP SECURED VENEZUELAN OIL. IS BTC NEXT?
Trump just announced that Venezuela’s “interim government” is handing over 30–50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., just days after Maduro got arrested in a military op.
Oil’s on the way, but now everyone’s wondering: What about the Bitcoin? Here’s what we know for sure:
Trump said the oil will be sold at market price, and the funds will be “controlled by me, the President of the United States”
At ~$56/barrel, that’s around $2.8 billion in value
Major U.S. oil execs from Exxon, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips are meeting with the White House this Friday
Trump gave the greenlight to move fast. Energy Secretary Chris Wright is already mobilizing tankers to bring the oil directly to U.S. ports
But actually, Bitcoin is the real mystery here 😂 You can move to part 2 below for detailed information.
In short, people have speculated for years that Venezuela might have built up a huge underground stash of $BTC ( ▲ 0.16% ) , possibly worth $60 billion.
No one’s confirmed anything on-chain.
No wallets have been shared.
No one knows who’s holding the keys.
Estimates range from just 240 BTC (~$22M) to 600,000+ BTC.
Without private keys, even arresting Maduro does nothing. You can’t “seize” crypto like you can oil or gold. But if the U.S. does get access to the keys? That Bitcoin could be moved instantly.
It’s literally all or nothing. Do you wonder why BTC makes sense for Venezuela?
The country’s been locked out of global finance. It already tried launching a national token (Petro) in 2018 but that flopped. BTC is censorship-resistant, borderless, and hard to trace.
And unlike oil, you don’t need ships or ports. Just a wallet, a key, and internet access.
What’s Trump really aiming for?
Back in 2023, Trump said he wanted to build a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve without using public money.
If the U.S. could link some of Venezuela’s Bitcoin to criminal charges, they might legally seize it… and boom, free BTC for the national reserve.
Sounds far-fetched? Maybe. But that’s exactly why we are watching this unfold like it’s a Netflix docuseries.
Analysts say that if the U.S. ever gets that Bitcoin, they’re more likely to hold it than sell. It would fit perfectly with the “strategic reserve” idea.
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🌍 UNLOCK VENEZUELA’S SHADOW BITCOIN VAULT
Over the weekend, a crazy rumor started: Venezuela might secretly be holding 600,000 BTC, worth around $65 billion.
Source: Serenitу
It all kicked off on January 3, when the U.S. arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in New York.
Charges include drug trafficking, money laundering, and sanctions violations. It’s actually a huge move, and possibly the end of Maduro’s power after years of global isolation.
And just like that, attention turned to one big question: What’s going to happen to Venezuela’s assets? Oil, gold… and more interestingly: crypto.
On paper, Venezuela only holds ~240 BTC, about $22 million, according to CoinGecko. Nothing too crazy. But multiple sources suggest a very different story.
Since 2018, when U.S. sanctions got tighter, Venezuela may have been accumulating Bitcoin off the radar, using non-traditional channels. Estimates say the country could hold:
600K–660K BTC
That’s ~3% of the total BTC supply
Worth $56B–$67B at today’s prices
Would make them the second-biggest BTC holder on Earth, even more than the U.S.
How did they get it? These are possibly 3 main sources of Venezuela’s “Shadow Stack”:
Gold-for-BTC swaps: Back in 2018–2020, billions in gold from the Orinoco Belt were allegedly swapped for BTC through intermediaries in Turkey and the UAE. BTC was only ~$5K back then
Oil sales via stablecoins: Since USD access was blocked, Venezuela reportedly accepted $USDT ( ▲ 0.01% ) for crude oil, then swapped it to BTC to dodge asset freezes
Reallocated domestic crypto: With crypto deeply embedded in Venezuela’s economy (thanks, hyperinflation), some BTC likely came from seized assets and state-involved mining
There’s no hard on-chain proof (yet), but this playbook fits what we already know about Venezuela’s long-time crypto use under sanctions.
📈 As Always, The Market Woke Up Really Fast
Right after Maduro’s arrest, Bitcoin pumped 3 days in a row, almost touching $95,000, now up 8% year-to-date. What’s driving it?
Fear + speculation around BTC seizures
Geopolitical tension boosting demand
Options traders piling into $100K calls on Deribit
ETF inflows resumed Jan 2 after a rough December
Big BTC options were bought right before 2025 ended
If the U.S. holds Venezuela’s BTC instead of dumping it, forced sell pressure disappears, and that’s bullish. It also makes Bitcoin look even more like a serious strategic asset.
🧩 3 Possible Scenarios for Venezuela’s BTC Hoard
U.S. freezes the BTC stash for years during legal procedures, locking up a huge chunk of supply
U.S. adds it to its own BTC reserves, quietly stacking like everyone else
U.S. sells it at auction (less likely). We’ve seen this before, but it often backfires. Germany sold 50,000 BTC in 2024 (less than 0.3% of supply), and prices dropped 15–20% short term
So if you’re reading this, you’re probably already deep enough in crypto to care. And I’d say this moment is one of those inflection points.
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🔥 BURNING HOT TAKES FOR THE ROAD
Is CZ hinting at “crypto winter” coming next? That phrase alone is enough to send chills down your spine. See the post
Tom Lee believes BTC could hit a new ATH in January 2026, citing renewed ETF inflows and a "risk-on" market shift. Read more
Tether introduced "Scudo," a new unit for its $XAUT ( ▲ 0.24% ) gold token, to let you pay with gold dust like it's Bitcoin sats. Read more
Coinbase warned that quantum computing threatens BTC beyond wallet hacking. It could wreck mining and decentralization too. Read more
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