SEC Chair: ‘Remains to be seen‘ whether US will seize Venezuela‘s reported Bitcoin

Several blockchain analysts said they were unable to verify whether the Latin American nation held $60 billion in the cryptocurrency.

Paul Atkins, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), didn’t rule out the possibility of authorities seizing Venezuela’s reported Bitcoin holdings after US forces unseated and captured the country’s president.

In a Monday interview with Fox Business’ Stuart Varney, Atkins responded to reports claiming that Venezuela holds up to $60 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC), though several analysts said they were unable to verify these claims. The SEC chair said it “remains to be seen” what action, if any, the US would take if it had the opportunity to seize the reported 600,000 BTC. 

“I leave that to others in the administration to deal with — I’m not involved in that,” said Atkins in response to a question on whether the US would “take those Bitcoin off ‘em.”

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