Bitcoin Advocate Machado In Running To Replace Venezuela's Maduro

Nobel Prize-winning Bitcoiner María Corina Machado is one of three looking to replace Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela's president after he was captured on Saturday.

Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, attention has turned to the country’s transition to new leadership — and one Bitcoiner is in the running to lead that charge.

María Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, is the second-favorite to lead Venezuela’s shift away from authoritarian rule under Maduro, who has been transferred to New York to face federal charges related to narcotics trafficking and corruption.

Data from predictions market Kalshi shows Machado has a 28% chance of leading Venezuela by the end of 2026, trailing only Unitary Platform’s Edmundo González Urrutia (32%), who is widely believed to have won Venezuela’s election in May 2025 but was blocked from assuming the presidency by Maduro’s United Socialist Party.

In third is Vice President Delcy Eloína Rodríguez (27%), Maduro’s former running mate, who was appointed acting president by Venezuela’s Supreme Court following Maduro’s capture.

US President Donald Trump said that the US would run Venezuela until a new leadership is established, raising uncertainty about the country’s short-term future.

A Machado-led Venezuela could see basic human rights and political freedom restored, as well as a sharp turn toward free-market reforms, including the use of Bitcoin (BTC) as an alternative to the crippling Venezuelan bolivar, which has lost more than 99.99% of its purchasing power since Maduro took office in 2013.

Speaking with the Human Rights Foundation’s chief strategy officer, Alex Gladstein, in late 2024, Machado envisioned making Bitcoin a national reserve asset and assisting its adoption as a payments solution:

“Venezuelans found a lifeline in Bitcoin during hyperinflation, using it to protect their wealth and to finance their escape,” Machado said at the time.

Over 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country since Maduro took over in 2013, and crypto has been one of several payment tools used to send money back to family members.

Source: CoinTelegraph