💰Venezuela's Bitcoin

600,000 BTC on the line. PLUS: Credit markets surge, ETH staking stabilizes, XRP moves in Japan, and Solana rewrites on-chain volume records.

Author

Cryptopolitan News
January 06, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

US wants Venezuela’s Bitcoin.

The US is allegedly getting ready to freeze and confiscate Venezuela’s Bitcoin reserves, following the arrest of Nicolas Maduro in New York.

As the word spread, BTC rallied to over $94,000, which shows that instead of panicking, market went to risk-on mode.

Why? Oil.

Without Maduro, American officials say, U.S. oil companies are prepared to launch investments in Venezuela’s dilapidated infrastructure. And the country is sitting on about $17 trillion in crude, most of which remains untapped from years gone by.

If supply returns, oil prices could fall and with them, inflation rates and market sentiment.

❝

All of our oil companies are ready and willing to make big investments in Venezuela

said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers.

The crypto angle

Bitcoin’s breakout also prompted short sellers to abandon their bets, accelerating the gain. Unlike the Iran scenario last year, when BTC was pushed lower following energy-driven panic, this time the market priced in a deflationary playbook.

Venezuela has long been heavy on cryptocurrency. As the bolívar’s collapse, Venezuela seized survival by becoming BTC and ETH. By 2021, it was one of the world’s top countries in terms of grassroots crypto adoption.

According to the official data, the state only holds about 240 BTC (~$22M). More recent estimates posit, however, that Venezuela holds up to 600k bitcoins, which is worth approximately $60B at today’s prices or about 3% of the Bitcoin maximal cap.

🧠 Cryptopolitan’s Take

This may be the first time a government has attempted to seize another country’s crypto assets, but it certainly won’t be the last. Bitcoin went from a retail asset, to an institutional asset, and now is part of geopolitical calculations.

The U.S. move indicates that Bitcoin, like oil, has become classified as a critical commodity whose export or seizure is prohibited in times of war.

That’s a distinction that makes the way states think about custody, control and the liabilities of holding assets on central platforms different.

🗳️ POLL: Should the U.S. be allowed to freeze Venezuela’s Bitcoin?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

📊 Market Watch

📈 $61B credit boom

A record $61 billion in USD bonds flowed into the market over 24 hours, biggest since January 2025. Asian banks and Saudi Arabia led, with yields pegged at ~4.8%.

Investors are racing to secure low funding costs before the rise in volatility.

⛓️ ETH exit queue almost empties

There are currently almost 0 validators queued to exit Ethereum for the first time in months, which is a bullish sign. In the last week alone BitMine has also staked up $260M of ETH, and Grayscale’s staking ETF just went live.

Long-term stakers are back.

🇯🇵 Ripple’s Japan power move

Ripple teamed up with Mizuho, SMBC Nikko & Securitize to bring back XRP Ledger Bootcamps in Japan. Rallying on fresh tax cuts combined with increased ETF demand, XRP is up 4.6% with volume leading in Asia.

 đŸ‘€ Chart our Analyst is watching

Solana, achieved a spot trading volume of $1.6 trillion on decentralized exchanges in 2025. The figure accounts for 11.92% of the total global spot market volume based on onchain data.

The trading volume of the network exceeded that of all major exchanges, such as Coinbase, Bitget, and Bybit.

📊 The State of on-chain activity in 2025

Our new report breaks down where real adoption kept growing even in a sideways market.
👉 Read the full report for free

 đŸĽ Top tweets

🎭 Culture Watch

Ledger confirmed a data breach at its payment processor Global‑e, exposing customer names and contact details.

Headline picks by our Brand Manager

Excited Season 9 GIF by The Office

Meme of the day

Join the Conversation!

We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Join our community and stay updated with the latest trends and discussions in crypto.