cryptoshantoreal

Markets focus on the $17T+ in Oil that Venezuela owns.

But what they don't know is that Venezuela one of the largest active $BTC holders in the world.

Similar in scale to both $MSTR and Blackrock.

Here's how this impacts markets and prices:

Intelligence reports indicate that the Venezuelan regime accumulated a "shadow reserve" of Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) estimated at more than $60 billion. (HUMINT)

his hoard was built through "gold swaps" and the requirement that oil exports be settled in USDT to evade sanctions.

Intelligence cited by Whale Hunting (authored by Bradley Hope and Clara Preve) indicates that the accumulation began in 2018, coinciding with the aggressive liquidation of the Orinoco Mining Arc’s gold reserves.

- The regime likely converted ~$2B of gold proceeds into Bitcoin at an average price of $5K, which would have been around 400,000 BTC. At Jan 2026 price of ~$90K, that specific tranche alone would be worth $36B.

As the "Petro" experiment failed, the regime pivoted to using Tether (USDT) as a proxy for the petrodollar during cruide oil sales. However, Venezuela began to "Wash" that into Bitcoin, recognizing that USDT retains the ability to freeze addresses.

Given market intelligence, we can estimate that Venezuela has roughly:

Gold Swaps: 2018–2020, Gold Bars, Value Now: ~$45B - $50B

Petro-Crypto: 2023–2025, Crude Oil, Value Now: ~$10B - $15B

Mining Seizures: 2023–2024, ~$500M

Giving a grand total between 2018–2026: ~$56B - $67B in Bitcoin, implied at 660K+ Bitcoin, with a floor at 600K in Bitcoin.

That does not mean US has full control of the Bitcoin yet. The days following today will be defined by a high-stakes interrogation to secure the Bitcoin.

The U.S. will likely offer plea deals, reduced sentencing, or protection for family members in exchange for the surrender of seed phrases. Given the severity of the narco-terrorism charges, the leverage is there.

So now the revelation of the $60 billion hoard fundamentally alters the supply/demand dynamics of the Bitcoin market for 2026, as the Venezuelan reserve is estimated at: 600,000+ BTC.

This is 12 times larger than the German sale and 2 times larger than the U.S. government’s entire pre-raid stockpile.

In 2024, the German state of Saxony liquidated ~50,000 BTC ($3 billion). This 50K BTC sale caused a 15-20% market correction and weeks of bearish sentiment.

Now compare that to 600,000.

Here's the leading entity holders of Bitcoin:

1. Satoshi Nakamoto ~1,100,000
2. BlackRock (IBIT) ~770,791.5
3. MicroStrategy ~672,497
4. Venezuela (Seized) ~600,000
5. U.S. Gov ~325,293
6. Mt. Gox Trustee ~140,000

Now, here's what will likely happen from here:

The "Frozen Asset" (High Probability):

The assets are seized but immediately entangled in complex litigation Creditors file injunctions; the DOJ claims forfeiture. The keys are held in escrow by the U.S. Treasury, but the coins cannot move.

Short-term volatility due to uncertainty, followed by a bullish "supply shock" narrative.

Short-term volatility due to uncertainty, followed by a bullish "supply shock" narrative. The market realizes that 600,000 BTC (3% of circulating supply) have been effectively removed from the market for 5-10 years. This acts as a massive "lock-up," reducing liquid supply and supporting higher prices.

The "Strategic Reserve" Pivot (High Probability):

Influenced by the "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" movement, President Trump orders the Treasury to hold the Bitcoin as a permanent U.S. asset.

This too acts as a massive lock up, reducing liquid supply and supporting higher prices.

The "Fire Sale" (Very Low Probability):

The U.S. DOJ declares the assets "perishable/volatile" and executes an immediate liquidation via Coinbase Prime or USMS auctions to fund the occupation costs.

However, this is unlikely due to Trump's positive stance toward Bitcoin "Reserves" from confiscating assets.
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Results:

Markets have been looking at the massive oil reserve and beneficiaries, while ignoring the elephant in the room: Bitcoin.

The "second order effect" is likely a massive supply lock-up.

If the U.S. seizes these assets, they will likely move from "active liquid reserves" of a rogue state to "frozen sovereign assets" of the U.S. Treasury, reducing available supply and potentially acting as a catalyst for higher prices in Q1 2026.

There will likely be increased volatility. But for market participants shorting Bitcoin because of fears of "conflict", this event is generally seen as bullish for $MSTR and Bitcoin holders as this effectively locks up supply for many years to come.

Buffett officially signed off as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, closing a sixty year chapter that certainly reshaped American capitalism and did turn a struggling textile mill, which was Berkshire Hathaway, into a $1.1 trillion financial powerhouse.

At 95, Buffett handed day to day control to Gregory Abel but made clear he is not vanishing.
He does plan to remain chairman and stay involved, offering guidance while the next era begins.
Buffett exits with a message louder than any farewell speech.
Berkshire is sitting on roughly $381.7 billion in cash, a deliberate signal that he sees few worthwhile opportunities in today’s inflated markets.
That massive war chest now belongs to Abel, a longtime lieutenant who built Berkshire’s energy business into a global force and earned Buffett’s trust as a steady operator.
Berkshire now spans around 90 companies, avoids short term noise, and trades Class A shares near $750,000.
The system was designed to survive succession.
Buffett may be stepping away from the CEO title, but the philosophy remains unchanged.
Buy great businesses.
Hold them patiently.
Let discipline and integrity do the work.
Sources: Quartz, Morningstar, The Street, Business Standard

The International Space Station is no longer just drifting; it is being driven.
SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft executed a massive 19 minute thruster burn, marking the fifth time during the mission that hardware from the commercial titan has physically hoisted the station into higher ground.
For decades, the ISS relied on Russian Progress vehicles to keep from sinking into the atmosphere.
Now, SpaceX is proving that the West doesn't need a middleman to keep the lights on in low Earth orbit.
This 19 minute maneuver added several kilometers to the station's altitude, countering the relentless atmospheric drag that tries to pull the ISS back to Earth.
Since docking in late August, Dragon has evolved from a cargo courier into an active guardian, using a specialized "boost kit" in its trunk, equipped with six propellant tanks and two dedicated Draco thrusters, to handle the heavy lifting.
By the time Dragon undocks in January 2026, it will have performed more reboosts than any commercial vehicle in history.
If you control the propulsion, you control the mission.
Source: NasaGOV, SpaceFlightNow, ArsTechnica

The AI arms race just shifted into a higher gear.
In a move that signals a massive bet on the future of generative AI, ByteDance is reportedly preparing to drop a staggering 100 billion yuan ($14.29 billion) on Nvidia chips in 2026.

This is a 17% surge from their 2025 spending, and it hinges on one critical geopolitical pivot: the Trump’s decision to let the "H200" into the Chinese market.
ByteDance’s appetite for compute is skyrocketing as it scales its large language models (LLMs) and fuels the recommendation engines that keep billions of users hooked. But there's a catch.
This $14 billion spree is entirely contingent on whether Washington allows the H200 GPU, Nvidia’s high-performance workhorse, to cross the Pacific.
Earlier this month, Trump announced a dramatic shift in policy, greenlighting the sale of these advanced chips to "approved customers" in China, provided the U.S. government takes a 25% cut of the revenue.
But don't think ByteDance is putting all its eggs in one American basket. Behind the scenes, the Beijing giant is running a sophisticated "dual-track" strategy.
While they are ready to cut a massive check to Nvidia, they have also built an internal chip design unit with a 1,000-person army dedicated to semiconductor independence.
Reports suggest they’ve already made progress on a homegrown processor that matches Nvidia's lower-tier "H20" chip but at a much lower cost.
Source: Reuters, The Diplomat, South China Morning Post