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Gold prices have jumped 70% over the past year as investors have turned to the traditional safe haven amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Key Takeaways

• Gold and silver prices are back near record highs after the U.S. removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from office and brought him to the U.S. to face criminal charges.
• The developments in Venezuela have heightened geopolitical uncertainty, giving a boost to safe haven investments such as precious metals.

One week after a previous rally stalled, gold and silver prices have marched higher again in the wake of the ouster of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Since Maduro's weekend capture by the U.S. military, gold has gained about 4% this week, nearing its record-high spot price of around $4,540 per troy ounce from Dec. 26. Silver has risen more than 10%, once again topping the $80-per-ounce threshold.

Gold and silver stumbled last week after exchange operator CME Group expanded margin requirements on its gold and silver futures contracts, requiring traders to put more up-front cash on their precious metal price bets.

But the upward momentum resumed as Maduro's capture again clouded the global geopolitical outlook. Geopolitical and economic uncertainty last year helped feed the biggest rally in precious metals in more than four decades.

Investors are turning to precious metals as stores of value amid concerns about the potential fallout from Maduro's arrest and uncertainty about what the Trump administration will do next.

It's unclear what role the U.S. government will play in restoring stability in Venezuela. President Donald Trump on Saturday said that the U.S. would "run" the South American country until an orderly transition is possible, and that U.S. oil companies would rebuild Venezuela's crumbling oil infrastructure.

Meanwhile, since capturing Maduro to face criminal charges in the U.S., Trump has appeared to threaten Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and the White House has said that the administration is considering a "range of options" to acquire Greenland, including use of the military.

Gold and silver rallied even as U.S. stock investors shrugged off the latest geopolitical turmoil. The S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached record highs Tuesday.

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AMD CEO Lisa Su and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said AI applications in the real world could define the next wave of the AI boom.

Key Takeaways

• AMD CEO Lisa Su told CNBC in an interview Tuesday that she believes physical AI enabling autonomous machines such as humanoid robots and self-driving cars could be the "next big thing."
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang earlier this week suggested a pivotal moment in robotics with AI may have already arrived.
  

The AI boom is only getting started, according to the industry's biggest players, with some predicting that the next wave of innovations will come in the physical world.

So-called physical AI, which powers autonomous machines like humanoid robots and self-driving cars, could be the "next big thing," Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su told CNBC in an interview Tuesday. The company, Su said, is making physical AI a key part of its strategy.

Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, who's told investors he expects AI-driven robotics to transform industries and Nvidia to be a leading beneficiary of that shift, said Monday that he believes a pivotal "ChatGPT moment" for robotics may have arrived, with the company's release of several new AI models for developers meant to unlock applications in the physical world.

Why This Is Important for Investors

Nvidia and AMD are both looking to physical AI as a source of growth that could expand sales to existing customers and win over new ones as more companies and industries adopt AI.

“Robotaxis are among the first to benefit," Huang said, with Nvidia's AI-powered driver assistance software set to be used in a new Mercedes-Benz car to enter production this year.

Analysts at Wedbush and Bernstein applauded Huang's autonomous vision, with Bernstein telling clients physical AI could be "set for an inflection with Autonomous Driving leading the charge."

Su's comments come after AMD unveiled its newest AI products for data centers and PCs, as well as physical AI at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Rival and industry leader Nvidia also showed off its latest chips at the conference.

Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha are overwhelmingly upbeat about Nvidia's stock, which on Tuesday reversed early gains to finish less than 1% lower despite broader market gains. They're also largely bullish on shares of AMD, which slipped about 3% Tuesday.

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Waitlists for Meta Ray-Ban glasses extend well into 2026, Meta said.

Key Takeaways

• Tech and eyewear companies are lining up to release new smart glasses, which they believe may one day be as ubiquitous as cell phones.
• The newest models aren't as heavy or bulky as their predecessors and are growing more useful thanks to AI, executives said.

The outlook for smart glasses may have finally cleared up.

Tech and retail experts are optimistic they can get Americans to reconsider adding glasses to their lineups of pocketable personal electronics. The product is becoming more practical and intuitive thanks to AI, the advent of lightweight electronics and partnerships with fashionable eyewear brands, industry executives say.

A number of brand names are racing to release what they hope will be the next big hit, including Snap (SNAP) and Apple (AAPL). Meta (META) is working with Ray-Ban's parent company EssilorLuxottica SA, while Google (GOOG) has partnered with Samsung and Warby Parker (WRBY), according to company statements.

Meta's new Ray-Ban Display and other buzzy releases helped the category grow nearly 250% in 2025, International Data Corp. said. Meta said Tuesday that it is delaying the international release of the Display so it can focus on meeting "overwhelming" domestic demand, citing a waitlist for its products.

Why This News Matters to Investors

Manufacturers have been making electronic components, such as batteries and sensors, smaller to fit in smartphones. Producers are now looking for alternative uses for the materials.

Warby Parker has long declined to be associated with smart glasses because they were bulky and uninspiring, co-CEO Dave Gilboa said on a conference call last month. But new releases are more comfortable, he said, thanks to smaller batteries, cameras and sensors.

AI has also made the glasses more useful, said Gilboa, who suggested possible uses like how to cook ingredients it sees, how to fix a broken toy the user looks at, or reminding people where they left their keys. "We believe that our products are going to be really differentiated and have remarkably good AI that will provide utility to consumers that is really mind-blowing," Gilboa said.

"It took smartphones to showcase kind of the power of always-on Internet and always-on connectivity. And the mobile smart phone was really the ... native device for this," Gilboa said, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense. "We believe that AI glasses are going to be the native form factor for the AI era."

The technology is catching on, but is still a ways away from the smartphone's ubiquity, IDC said. The research group said 2.7 million smart glasses were sold in 2024, when 1.44 billion phones were purchased.

Some 10 million smart glasses were released in 2025, but that may reach 55 million by 2030, according to Bank of America.

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The S&P 500 fell over the past five sessions of last year and the first two of 2026.

Key Takeaways

• The early year boost in the benchmark S&P 500 associated with Saint Nick was a no-show for a third year in a row.
• The S&P 500 posted a slight loss over this season's stretch, which ended with Monday's close.

Stock traders didn't get much from Santa this season. Does that mean this year's returns will be lighter than in years past?

The Santa Claus rally—the tendency for stocks to rise during the trading period containing the final five trading days of December and the first two of the new year—yesterday looked as though it would materialize in the 11th hour but ultimately disappointed. Over this season's stretch, between Christmas Eve through Monday's close, the S&P 500 was down 0.11%.

While this marked the third consecutive year without a Santa rally, the benchmark index has, on average, returned 1.3% during the rally period since 1950. Looking ahead, some investors see Saint Nick's returns as a directional signal of where the stock market is headed in the year ahead.

Why This Matters to Investors

Many investors fret that the S&P 500 won't continue to post outsize returns like it has in the past few years, but some market strategists say that there's no reason to believe otherwise yet.

Between Santa slumping, and major institutions' 2026 S&P targets implying relatively small annual gains, the outlook for U.S. stocks may not seem great. Still, some market watchers are keeping an open mind until more information comes in.

Santa's absence in certain years—such as 2000 and 2008—turned out to be a harbinger of doom. The 4% decline in the 2000 season preceded the tech bubble's bursting, while the 2.5% loss for the 2008 season was followed by the second worst bear market in history, per Jeff Hirsch, the author of the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Hirsch, however, is reserving "final judgment" for the end of January. If the S&P posts negative numbers for both the first five trading days of the year and the month overall, that would "weigh heavily on the outlook" for 2026, he said in a note published Monday.

While some veteran investors were ringing an alarm on U.S. stocks last year, others are sanguine.

Mark Newton, Fundstrat's head of technical strategy, said that the small S&P breakout that kicked off the start this week, the first full trading week in January, "looks like a big positive," in a report published Monday. He thinks the recent move in the benchmark index could lead it back above 7000 in spite of Santa being a no-show.

DataTrek's Jessica Rabe said investors shouldn't read too much into January's numbers as a sign of things to come. "Of course, like any stock market heuristic it doesn’t work every year, but history shows a positive performance for the S&P in January tends to lead to much stronger returns for the year overall," she wrote in a report today.

So far so good. The S&P is up 0.8% over the first two completed trading days of 2026.

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks during the company's unveiling of new AI products at CES in Las Vegas on Monday

Key Takeaways

• Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices showcased their newest AI products at CES on Monday.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said his company's latest chips can be used for a wide range of applications, including robotics and self-driving cars along with creating and training AI models.

Tech investors got a fresh look at the product roadmaps of two leading AI chipmakers on Monday.

Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su each spoke at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday, where they unveiled their companies' newest AI chips. Huang showcased Nvidia's next-generation AI chip platform called Rubin, which uses chips supporting a wide range of applications, from model creation and training to enabling robotics and self-driving cars.

Wedbush analysts told clients after the event that it underscored how robotics and self-driving could present another market opportunity for Nvidia to "tap into," and that they believe the new avenues could help Nvidia's market capitalization rise to $6 trillion over time, from its current level near $4.7 trillion.

Why This Matters to Investors

Nvidia has become the world's most valuable company by providing most of the hardware behind the artificial intelligence boom. Staying at the forefront of the chipmaking space is important for Nvidia's stock, while competitors like AMD work to prove their own technology can compete with Nvidia's.

Nvidia said its AI-powered driver assistance software will be used in a new Mercedes-Benz car available later this year. Analysts have previously suggested Nvidia could be a key beneficiary of the rise of self-driving robotaxis.

Su's Monday evening keynote also highlighted AMD's newest chips for data centers as well as physical AI applications like robotics.

Nvidia shares climbed about 2% in recent trading, while AMD slipped 2% after both stocks posted small declines on Monday.

News of the day for January 6, 2026

Bridget Bennett / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang spoke Monday afternoon at the CES consumer electronics show.

Stock futures are little changed this morning after the major indexes posted big gains to start the week; Nvidia and AMD each showcased new AI-focused products in their respective events at CES on Monday; oil stocks are rising further after leading Monday's rally on hopes that they will benefit from new leadership in Venezuela; Gold and silver are once again approaching record highs amid the geopolitical uncertainty; and high demand for hardware to run AI models continues to boost Micron and other chipmakers. Here's what you need to know.

Stocks Point to Muted Open After Big Gains, Dow Record

Stock futures are mixed Tuesday after the major indexes each gained on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average setting new intraday and closing records. Dow futures were down 0.1% recently, while futures linked to the S&P 500 were hovering near unchanged and Nasdaq futures added 0.2%. WTI crude oil futures were up 0.5% at $58.60 per barrel, trading at their highest levels in a month, as market participants try to gauge the impact of developments in oil-rich Venezuela. Gold futures were up 0.5% at $4,475 an ounce, while bitcoin was at $93,800, down slightly from yesterday afternoon but still near its highest levels in more than a month. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, rose to 4.18% from 4.16% at Monday's close.

Nvidia, AMD Unveil New AI Chips at CES in Las Vegas

Investors have a slew of AI updates to digest, after Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su each spoke at the CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas yesterday. Huang showcased Nvidia's new Rubin chips that will go on sale later this year, focusing on applications in the real world like robotics and self-driving cars. AMD also revealed its newest chips, for use in products like personal computers and servers, as well as physical AI applications like robotics. Shares of Nvidia and AMD, which fell on Monday ahead of the presentations, were up less than 1% in premarket trading.

Oil Stocks Keep Rising as Investors Assess Venezuela Opportunity

Oil stocks are extending gains this morning after leading the market's rally Monday. Oil and gas companies got a boost from news over the weekend that the U.S. had captured Nicolás Maduro, the president of oil-rich Venezuela. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. will encourage its oil companies to invest in Venezuela to "fix" its crumbling oil infrastructure and increase oil production. Shares of Chevron (CVX), the only U.S. company that currently has a presence in Venezuela, were up 0.5% in recent premarket trading after leading the Dow with a 5% jump Monday. Oil majors ExxonMobil (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP), as well as oilfield services companies Baker Hughes (BKR) and SLB (SLB), were also higher this morning after posting solid gains yesterday.

Gold, Silver Back Near Record Highs Amid Venezuela Uncertainty

The uncertainty created by the Trump administration's actions in Venezuela has also sparked a rally for precious metals as some investors turn to safe-haven assets. Gold futures were up 0.5% recently at $4,475 an ounce, moving toward the record high of around $4,580 set on Dec, 26. Silver futures were up nearly 2% this morning at $78.15 an ounce, approaching the all-time high of about $83 set late last month. Investors frequently turn to gold and other precious metals as stores of value during times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Precious metals set a number of record highs last year—the price of gold rose 65% in 2025—amid stock market volatility, concerns over tariffs, a weakening of the U.S. dollar, and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Memory Shortage Continues to Boost Micron, Other Chipmakers

Shares of Micron Technology (MU), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) and Intel (INTC) are each gaining Tuesday morning as the hardware portion of the AI trade continues to be strong. Micron shares soared some 240% in 2025 as its revenue surged due to high demand for the memory components it sells to other chipmakers such as Nvidia. The demand for hardware to run AI models has also created a shortage in the memory market, driving prices to record highs and further boosting Micron's revenue in recent quarters. Counterpoint Research has forecast that memory prices could rise another 40% through the second quarter of this year, a potential further boon for companies like Micron that could also lead to higher prices for smartphones and computer hardware.

Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images

Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump announced that American oil majors would “fix the badly broken infrastructure” of Venezuela’s oil industry.

Key Takeaways

• President Trump on Saturday said U.S. oil companies would "spend billions" to "fix" Venezuela's oil infrastructure after years of decay under the weight of U.S. sanctions and government corruption.
• Venezuela is home to the world's largest known oil reserves, but currently accounts for less than 1% of global production.
• Experts say oil companies will likely require amendments to Venezuelan laws, greater political and economic stability, and the repayment of Venezuelan debts to commit the capital required to achieve Trump's goals.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. will revive Venezuela's ailing oil industry, but experts see towering economic and legal obstacles to a quick turnaround.

President Trump, after announcing the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday morning, said American oil majors would “go in” and “spend billions of dollars” to “fix the badly broken infrastructure” of Venezuela’s oil industry. 

The stocks of U.S. crude oil producers, refiners, and oilfield service providers were all sharply higher on Monday as investors sized up their opportunity to exploit the world’s largest known oil reserves. Chevron (CVX) shares jumped 5% to pace gainers on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which closed at a record high.

Why This Is Important

Shares of U.S. oil companies rallied on Monday as investors bet the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would open up the country's vast oil reserves to U.S. producers and refiners. Experts say it will cost tens of billions of dollars to repair Venezuela's tattered infrastructure.

A Decimated Oil Industry

Venezuela sits on an estimated 300 billion barrels of oil, or nearly 20% of global supply. But years of economic turmoil, corruption and U.S. sanctions have decimated Venezuela’s oil industry. In 2024, the country produced about 900,000 barrels per day, down from nearly 3.5 million in 1997.

Experts say boosting Venezuela’s oil production to levels not seen in decades will be neither easy nor cheap. Energy industry consultancy Wood Mackenzie recently estimated that the country could pump about 2 million barrels a day—a return to mid-2010s levels—within one to two years with “operational improvements and some modest investment.” To increase production to 2.5 million barrels, however, would require investment of $15 billion to $20 billion over the next decade.

The economics of extracting and using Venezuela's heavy oil will also be an obstacle to investment, according to Jesus Davis, Senior Vice President of Energy Services at Industrial Info Resources. Most Venezuelan crude trades at a discount to U.S. oil because it is more expensive to process. With West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, trading at about $58 a barrel on Monday, "the discounted Venezuelan barrels do make the math a bit more complex when looking at tens of billions of dollars in investment," said Davis.

Obstacles to Attracting Foreign Capital

Chevron is the only U.S. producer currently operating in Venezuela, which every other firm abandoned as the country nationalized the oil industry. Repairing the country's oil infrastructure will likely require the participation of U.S. giants such as ExxonMobil (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP). Both firms are owed billions for assets seized during nationalization, and experts say the companies will likely require guarantees of restitution before returning to the country.

"Venezuela could pay off these claims by inviting investors back to the country," said Luisa Palacios, Interim Director of Research at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. But attracting foreign capital will likely require changes to the laws governing the industry and a restructuring of the country's $200 billion in debt, according to Palacios.

“Greenfield investment to raise Venezuelan production is a long and tough slog,” said Daniel Sternoff, a senior fellow at Columbia's Center on Global Energy Policy. He estimated a return to 2.5 million barrels a day would cost between $80 billion and $90 billion.

Political instability remains an obstacle to reviving Venezuela's oil industry. President Trump on Saturday said the U.S. would "run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition." Vice President and Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as acting president over the weekend, but opposition leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, contend the government remains illegitimate. U.S. officials have indicated they intend to maintain a military presence as potential leverage over the new government.

Potential Investors Eye Opportunities

Some U.S. investors were looking past these challenges on Monday to focus on the opportunities at hand. Charles Myers, founder of Signum Global Advisors, told CNBC on Monday that his firm is planning a trip to Venezuela in March to explore investment opportunities with clients including asset managers and hedge funds. 

“This is a major infrastructure play,” said Myers. “I think it could be as big as $500 billion over the next 10 years.” 

Myers expressed confidence the U.S. government and military would support his and other investors’ efforts. “There will be security guarantees. We already have a pretty important, or meaningful, one already, which is the scale of the United States military presence offshore of Venezuela,” Myers said. He added he “wouldn’t rule out some kind of U.S. government backstop” for American capital being deployed in Venezuela. 

Michael Nagle / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Versant, which includes channels such as CNBC, MS NOW and USA Network, provides another way for investors to gain exposure to the cable TV market.

Key Takeaways

• Versant shares tumbled in their first day of trading on Monday.
• The group of cable channels and digital properties was spun off from Comcast last year, and includes CNBC, MS NOW and the USA Network.

Versant (VSNT) shares fell sharply after they started trading on the Nasdaq exchange Monday, as the company completed its spin-off from Comcast (CMCSA).

Versant shares opened the session just above $45 but finished the session at $40.57, after falling to near $39.

Comcast announced plans in late 2024 to spin off its cable TV channels including CNBC, MSNBC (since rebranded to MS NOW), USA Network, Golf Channel and others. That new company, which also owns digital brands Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, was eventually named Versant.

Why This Matters to Investors

Versant provides another way for investors to gain exposure to the cable TV market, a concentrated industry that rarely sees new companies join the public markets. Versant's performance as a standalone stock could signal how investors feel about the shrinking cable TV business.

“As part of Comcast and NBCU we had other priorities as a company,” Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said on CNBC Monday. “We made different decisions, because we had a different company and a different strategy. Now we’re bringing these [assets] into their own company, we’re going to be able to invest into them.

At its December 2025 investor day, Versant said it generated an estimated $6.6 billion in revenue in 2025, down from the $7.1 billion the company said it made in 2024, per a regulatory filing. Versant said its viewing numbers in terms of hours watched compare to some of the most popular streaming services like Disney+ and that news and sports content make up about 60% of its portfolio. Across its channels, the company broadcasts NASCAR racing, Premier League soccer and the WNBA.

Cable TV subscriber numbers have been shrinking for years as media companies and consumers focus more on streaming services, with a range of cable-like bundles now available. Another media giant, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), has also decided to spin off its TV networks into standalone companies, set to take place before the company is acquired by Netflix (NFLX).

President Donald Trump has proposed sending tariff rebate checks to some Americans.

Key Takeaways

• Tariffs will increase the tax burden on U.S. families by an average of $2,110 in 2026, a new study showed.
• But the tariff rebate checks proposed by President Donald Trump could blunt the impact of tariffs for all but the highest earners. 
• The bottom 40% of earners could see their tax burden decrease by more than $2,300 in 2026 if tariff rebate checks are sent out, the study showed.

Tariffs are taking a toll on U.S. families. But President Donald Trump’s proposal to send out $2,000 tariff rebate checks later this year would more than make up for the extra costs, and low-income families would benefit the most, a recent study showed.

Tariff rebate checks could reduce the tax burden for the lowest 40% of income earners by more than $2,300, a Tax Policy Center report found.  However, the top fifth of earners are the one income group that wouldn’t see their tax burden decline under the tariff rebate policy.

Why This Matters to You

Tariff rebate checks would shift the cost of tariffs away from lower- and middle-income households, changing who ultimately bears the burden of U.S. trade policy. Because lower-income families are more likely to spend the money quickly, the rebates could also support consumer spending and broader economic activity.

“The dividend—if approved by Congress—also has the potential to transform the tariffs from a regressive tax to a progressive tax policy,” the report said.  “On average, a flat per-person $2,000 dividend could more than cover low-income families’ tariff costs, but not costs incurred by higher-income families.”

Low Earners Would Benefit Most from Rebate Checks

Last November, Trump proposed sending a $2,000 per person rebate check from tariff revenues, though he also said that high-income earners wouldn’t receive the dividend. The Tax Policy Center's study didn’t place limits on who would qualify for the checks, though it said that some restrictions would be essential in order to lower the cost of the program.

Without any rebate, the Tax Policy Center found that tariffs would increase the tax burden for families by $2,110 in 2026. But the extent of the impact would vary widely depending on income levels. The bottom fifth of earners are expected to see a $400 increase in their tax burden in 2026, while the second fifth could see their tax burden go up by $910. The top quintile would face a tax burden increase of $7,330.

The study didn’t examine the costs of tariff dividend checks. But other reports have shown that the checks could put a significant burden on the federal budget, the extent of which would depend on who qualifies for a rebate.

A Lot Depends on How Checks are Distributed

In the Tax Policy Center study, a family of four would receive a total tariff rebate of $8,000. But administration officials have suggested that the tariff rebate checks could be limited to people earning $100,000 or less. The report looked at how a tariff rebate program in Congress would distribute the checks, which mirrored the restrictions placed on the third round of COVID-19 relief check distributions.

Before Trump posted about the tariff rebate, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation that would send a smaller tariff dividend check of at least $600 which would phase out once income exceeded $75,000 for individuals, $112,500 for heads of households and $150,000 for joint filers. Qualifying children would also be eligible for the check.

Administration officials have said that while they are working on a tariff rebate proposal, it would need approval from Congress. Some legislators have said they are skeptical of the proposal, arguing that the revenue earned from tariffs should be applied to the federal budget deficit. 

Trump has said that the revenue collected from tariffs would be large enough to fund the rebate checks, in addition to helping pay down the federal debt. Tariff receipts in November came in at $31 billion, the same amount from October. But other studies have shown that the tariff rebate checks could cost more than the tariff revenues bring in.

Gett Images

Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin traded above $94,000 as of Monday afternoon, levels last seen in early December, as investors digested the weekend news that the U.S. had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
• Ousting Maduro "is not a direct bullish catalyst" for bitcoin, but the geopolitical conflict points to cryptocurrencies' real-world utility, one analyst said.
  

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) appears to have climbed out of a rut following the surprise capture by the U.S. of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro over the weekend.

The world's largest cryptocurrency underperformed the broader stock market last year, but is starting to show signs of life—it rose above $94,000 as of Monday afternoon, levels unseen in weeks. Crypto-linked stocks including Coinbase Global (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR) each rose at least 4%. Oil industry stocks also jumped, on hopes that U.S. energy companies will benefit from a revival of Venezuela's oil industry.

"Escalating pressure without direct military conflict" is supportive of bitcoin, reinforcing its appeal as a decentralized asset amid geopolitical uncertainty, according to an analyst at crypto derivatives exchange Bitunix. In other words, bitcoin's usefulness as a hedge is helping lift prices rather than a broad recovery in appetite for risk assets.

Why This Matters for Investors

Bitcoin has mostly sat out what is called the "debasement trade," popularized last year by investors hedging against potentially catastrophic geopolitical events and the declining strength of the dollar, but is bouncing back following recent events.

Ousting Maduro "is not a direct bullish catalyst," for bitcoin, according to Dean Chen, a Bitunix analyst, but it may be an indirect one.

"For an economy like Venezuela's, which is heavily dependent on oil exports, locking up energy exports effectively locks up foreign exchange inflows," he told Investopedia, "Historically, every episode of intensified sanctions, SWIFT restrictions or tighter capital controls has been accompanied by rising real-world demand for bitcoin in affected regions."

Venezuela's embrace of cryptocurrency shows how—its private sector uses it to address sanctions risk, and citizens have adopted it as a more stable alternative to the country's bolívar.

State-run oil company PDVSA was said to have increased its use of dollar-pegged stablecoins, digital currency designed to maintain a stable value, starting in 2024 after the US reimposed sanctions. Maduro has also dabbled in "cryptocurrency," creating something called the e-Petro that was supposedly backed by the country's oil and gas reserves; it launched in 2018 but was not widely adopted.

The country is also among the top five in the Latin America region for cryptocurrency adoption, logging almost $45 billion in related transaction volume from July 2024 to June 2025, according to the most recent data compiled by blockchain research firm Chainalysis.

Maduro's arrest was a "symbolic trigger" that helped boost bitcoin prices, Chen said.