Regarding the claim that the Venezuelan government secretly stockpiled $60 billion worth of Bitcoin, this has been a hot topic in the market recently. However, Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, an industry insider who has been involved in Bitcoin mining in the region for a long time, poured cold water on these rumors—most of these claims are based on guesses and secondhand information, with no on-chain evidence to support them.

The rumors mainly stem from three assertions: first, that the $2.7 billion gold sale in 2018 was exchanged for Bitcoin; second, that some oil transactions are settled in cryptocurrency; third, that the government directly confiscated mining equipment to mine on its own. While these sound plausible, a closer look reveals the flaws.

Mauricio admits that Venezuela has indeed received cryptocurrencies in its oil and gas trade, and that the government has confiscated mining equipment before. But the key issue is—there is no credible evidence that the gold transaction was converted into Bitcoin at all. The main figures involved in that transaction, including the current Industry and National Production Minister Alex Saab, were detained by the U.S. between 2020 and 2023, and were later released through a prisoner swap agreement.

Doing the math makes it clear. If Saab truly held $10 to $20 billion in Bitcoin, that amount would surpass the entire official reserves disclosed by the Central Bank of Venezuela (which is about $9.9 billion). But the problem is, no on-chain address has ever been reliably linked to Saab or the Venezuelan government. There are no addresses, no transfer records, and no cold wallet evidence—this is why these rumors remain just rumors.