A big news circulating in the crypto world recently—there are rumors that the Venezuelan government may secretly hold $60 billion worth of Bitcoin. However, Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, co-founder of Ledn and a long-time Bitcoin miner in Venezuela, dismissed these claims as mostly speculation and secondhand rumors, with no credible on-chain evidence to support them.

The rumor mainly stems from three sources. First, the large-scale gold transaction in Venezuela in 2018, which allegedly was exchanged for Bitcoin; second, some oil revenues being settled in cryptocurrencies; third, the government confiscating mining equipment and mining on its own.

But Mauricio’s analysis debunks these rumors. He admits that Venezuela has indeed received some crypto assets in certain oil transactions, and that the government has confiscated mining equipment, but the key point is—there’s no credible evidence that the $2.7 billion worth of gold transaction was directed toward Bitcoin. The central figure in that transaction, Alex Saab, was detained by the U.S., and was released in a prisoner swap agreement in 2023. If he truly controlled $10-20 billion in BTC, that number would have long surpassed the official reserves of $9.9 billion announced by the Central Bank of Venezuela. Even more telling, no on-chain address has ever been reliably traced back to Saab or the Venezuelan state.

Another practical issue is: even if the regime did acquire crypto assets, what kind of corrupt system would allow that money to enter the national treasury? The SUNACRIP corruption case exposed in 2023 is a stark lesson—between 2020 and 2023, officials embezzled $17.6 billion through illegal oil transactions, and crypto asset proceeds were likely embezzled by individuals as well.

Regarding the claim of "large-scale mining," Mauricio also dismisses it. Venezuela has long suffered from power shortages, crumbling infrastructure, and a mass exodus of technical personnel. Even a pillar industry like PDVSA, the oil and gas company, cannot operate effectively. How could they possibly run large-scale Bitcoin mining farms stably?

His final conclusion is quite interesting: Bitcoin does exist in Venezuela, but not in the hands of the regime.