US May Acquire Enormous Bitcoin Holdings If Venezuela's Alleged $60 Billion Reserve Is Confirmed

By Omkar Godbole (All times are in ET unless stated otherwise). Happy New Year to our readers. The year 2026 is off to a great start for crypto, with Bitcoin currently trading near $92,700, having risen by 1.3% in the last 24 hours and 5% in the first five days of the year. Major alternative cryptocurrencies such as XRP, SOL, BNB, and ETH have seen increases of 1%-3% over the past 24 hours, with XRP up 2.49%, SOL up 1.27%, BNB up 0.54%, and ETH up 0.99%. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) rose 1.25%, indicating strength in the largest and most active assets, while the CoinDesk 80 Index (CD80) gave up early gains, signaling relative weakness in the broader alternative cryptocurrency market. Analysts attribute the rise in Bitcoin's price to safe-haven demand following the US action in Venezuela and the exhaustion of tax-related selling. Data from Deribit shows renewed demand from traders for bullish option bets, primarily the $100,000 strike call. According to Laser Digital, in an email to CoinDesk, 'We noticed ETF inflows on January 2nd after consecutive outflows during December and 3000x lots of Jan-end BTC calls going through on the last day of December.' Over the weekend, the US attacked Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, sparking speculation on crypto social media that Venezuela may be controlling a massive $60 billion shadow Bitcoin reserve, possibly comparable to that of the Bitcoin treasury company Strategy (MSTR), which holds BTC worth over $62 billion. Although these claims are unverified, if true, the US might seize these coins and add them to its strategic Bitcoin reserve. QCP Capital stated in a market note on Monday, 'The prospect of the US adding any seized BTC to its own strategic reserve reduces the likelihood of forced selling and highlights BTC's increasing strategic importance as nations compete to accumulate.' Another trending narrative is that President Donald Trump could soon tap into Venezuela's 300 billion barrels of oil reserves, boosting supply and potentially causing oil prices to crash, allowing the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates more rapidly. However, analysts point out that having reserves and producing them are two different things. Venezuelan crude from the Orinoco Belt is heavy, impure sour crude, making it difficult and expensive to extract and refine, requiring huge investments. This means the reserves may not start flowing in the near future, limiting their impact on oil prices. In other words, the disinflationary impulse anticipated by Bitcoin bulls may not materialize anytime soon. In other key news, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the network has effectively solved the blockchain scalability trilemma, balancing decentralization, security, and high transaction speed, with the help of key upgrades like zkEVMs and PeerDAS. In traditional markets, the dollar index rose for the fourth straight trading day, rising above 98.50. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 traded higher. In the macroeconomy, we have a flurry of key US data releases this week, starting with the ISM Manufacturing PMI later today, followed by the non-manufacturing PMI, the ADP Employment report, and nonfarm payrolls data in the days ahead. Stay alert. Read more: For analysis of today's activity in alternative cryptocurrencies and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today. What to Watch: Token Events, Conferences, Market Movements, Bitcoin Stats, Technical Analysis, Crypto Equities, Crypto Treasury Companies, ETF Flows, Spot BTC ETFs, Spot ETH ETFs. Source: Farside Investors. While You Were Sleeping