According to a recent report by Whale Hunting, the political situation in Venezuela has undergone a significant change.
The document details the arrest of Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and his subsequent transfer to the United States. The former leader and his wife were taken aboard the USS Iwo Jima to New York, where they will face federal legal proceedings. At the same time, the report highlights a complex issue that is now drawing the attention of financial analysts: the fate of the assets accumulated under the Maduro administration remains uncertain.
This change in governance raises a critical question: where are the funds linked to the former executive located?
A war chest converted into cryptocurrencies
As Venezuela enters a new political chapter, the economic framework established by the previous administration remains unclear. For several years, a significant portion of national resources appears to have been redirected. Oil revenues, gold reserves, and various public assets seem to have undergone substantial capital movements.
According to the report, the strategy was primarily designed to bypass international economic sanctions and operate independently of conventional banking channels. It is suggested that these funds have been converted into cryptocurrencies, with a particular focus on Bitcoin.
This alternative financial system has enabled the government to maintain its economic flows. Locating and accessing these digital assets, however, now poses a complex technical challenge for US authorities.
Alex Saab: the missing architect of the crypto vault
The situation grows even more complex here. While Nicolas Maduro faces justice, the central figure behind this financial engineering is absent. According to Whale Hunting, Alex Saab is frequently cited as the architect of the scheme. He is reportedly the only person with access to a digital wallet estimated by some analysts to hold nearly $60 billion in Bitcoin.
While this figure has not been verified through a public blockchain analysis, it would place these reserves on par with those of major institutional entities in the sector. In Alex Saab’s absence, access to these digital funds remains purely speculative.
From physical to digital gold: a financial alchemy
The report attempts to trace the path of these funds. The analysis is based on recorded economic movements, notably the export of 73.2 tonnes of Venezuelan gold in 2018, valued at approximately £2.7 billion at the time.
The working hypothesis is that a fraction of these funds was converted into Bitcoin when its value fluctuated between $3,000 and $10,000.
Had these assets been retained until Bitcoin’s peak in 2021 ($69,000), the portfolio’s value would have grown substantially.
These transactions are reported to have passed through multiple international intermediaries, notably in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, before being secured via mixing protocols and stored on offline media (‘cold wallets’), making the funds difficult to trace.
A technical and financial deadlock
As legal proceedings against Nicolas Maduro are set to begin in New York, the financial aspect of this case remains unresolved.
The question of whether Mr Saab will cooperate, or the location of the encryption keys, is still unanswered. While Washington successfully transferred the former president, access to the economic resources of the previous regime remains unclear. For investigators, the challenge now is to decrypt access to these virtual assets—a task that could prove technically impossible without the appropriate codes.
Source: Whale Hunting
