Bitcoin and crypto prices have climbed after U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro, with Donald Trump promising to “run the country” until a “judicious transition” can happen.
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The bitcoin price, up almost 5% over the last three days, has topped $90,000 per bitcoin, with the wider crypto market adding around $100 billion as traders bet on a 2026 U.S. dollar earthquake.
Now, as Trump’s media company reveals a crypto surprise, analysts are braced for a $17.3 trillion oil price upheaval that could send shockwaves through the bitcoin price and crypto market.
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U.S. president Donald Trump is likely to rock markets this week after his weekend takeover of Venezuela—with oil, bitcoin and crypto all braced for price shocks.
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“Trump wants stock markets to have 48 hours to absorb the news,” Lark Davis, analyst and author of the WealthMastery bitcoin and crypto newsletter, wrote in an emailed note.
“This makes bitcoin the front-running indicator of sentiment,” Davis wrote, pointing to bitcoin’s steady immediate reaction to the news. “[But] if this is really about oil, then this may be just the beginning. If that’s the case, oil prices could drop a lot on this news.”
Oil market futures will open on Sunday evening after closing ahead of the U.S. military action in Venezuela at $57 per barrel.
In a press conference following the raid, Trump said the U.S. would take control of Venezuela’s massive oil reserves and recruit U.S. companies to invest billions of dollars in the country’s oil industry.
“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies—the biggest anywhere in the world—go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference, it was reported by Forbes.
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The bitcoin price has fallen sharply since hitting an all-time high in October, but has climbed off its recent lows.
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“Most people do not realize how much the world just changed,” analysts with the Kobeissi Letter posted to X, calculating Venezuela’s total reserves are worth $17.3 trillion. “Oil markets will react to this news for the first time on Sunday at 6pm ET. The next few days will be critical.”
Venezuela is believed to have around 300 billion barrels worth of crude oil, around a fifth of the world’s global reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
“U.S. oil prices should be sub $50 a barrel by Monday opening,” equity fund manager Grant Cardone posted to X. “Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, at 300+ billion barrels. The U.S. now controls the largest oil reserve in the world.”
A lower oil price would likely mean inflation in the U.S. and around the world falls in the year ahead, with analysts citing lower inflation as a potential tailwind for bitcoin.
“One of the concerns I had going into 2026 was a high oil price acting as a headwind for bitcoin, similar to 2022,” Coindesk and Bullish analyst James Van Straten posted to X.
“Oil staying low will contain inflation and the long end of the yield curve. Trump can run it hot, for the first six months, without inflation being a concern.”
