Bitcoin dips, but quickly recovers as U.S. captures Venezuela's Maduro
TL;DR
Bitcoin briefly dipped 0.5% after U.S. captured Venezuelan President Maduro, but quickly recovered to near $90,000. Crypto markets showed resilience despite geopolitical event.
Key Takeaways
- •Bitcoin dropped about 0.5% to $89,300 after reports of U.S. military operation capturing Venezuelan President Maduro
- •BTC quickly recovered to just below $90,000 within hours, showing market resilience
- •U.S. Attorney General announced Maduro and his wife indicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges
- •KuCoin recorded record trading volume in 2025 with $1.25 trillion total, showing strong exchange performance
- •XRP surged to $2.02 with strong volume, indicating potential for further gains
What to know:
- The U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife after a brief military operation Saturday morning, according to President Trump.
- Crypto prices suffered a brief, modest drop on the first reports of the military action, but have since recovered.
- The U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife after a brief military operation Saturday morning, according to President Trump.
- Crypto prices suffered a brief, modest drop on the first reports of the military action, but have since recovered.
The U.S. carried out a "large scale" strike against Venezuela and its President Nicolas Maduro, Donald Trump announced early Saturday morning. Maduro and his wife, Trump continued, were captured and flown out of the country.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi later announced that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had each been indicted in the Southern District of New York over various drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Crypto prices took a modest hit around 2 a.m. ET on reports of military operations in Venezuela, with bitcoin BTC$91,456.11 dipping about 0.5% to $89,300. At press time, just shy of 9 a.m. ET, BTC had returned to just below $90,000.
President Trump has scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. ET.
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
- Dogecoin surged to $0.1516, driven by high trading volume and renewed interest in meme coins.
- The broader meme coin market, including Dogecoin and Pepe, saw significant gains as traders embraced 'meme season.'
- Technical indicators suggest Dogecoin's rally is supported by strong volume, but it must maintain key support levels to continue upward momentum.
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