- Nicolás Maduro was arrested on January 3 on narcotics trafficking charges, but Venezuela remains under the same ruling group.
- US sanctions on Venezuela are extensive and could be relaxed slowly, tightened, or reimposed depending on events.
- Cryptoassets and stablecoins have been used in alleged sanctions evasion; compliance teams should review policies, assess exposure, and prepare screening systems to adapt.
Nicolás Maduro was captured and arrested on January 3 on narcotics trafficking charges. The country continues to be governed by the same regime, with Delcy Rodriguez serving as interim president, as reported that it is still governed by the same regime. The US has stated opening Venezuelan oil to US firms is a goal, but there is no clear plan to lift sanctions.
“Key takeaway: Maduro’s arrest doesn’t mean Venezuela sanctions are going away. Restrictions could be relaxed, tightened or reimposed as events unfold. Compliance teams should use this moment to review policies, assess Venezuela-related exposure and ensure screening systems are ready to adapt.”
US sanctions on Venezuela began with targeted measures in 2014, when the US president imposed targeted sanctions. They later expanded to blocking the property of the Venezuelan government, which includes the Central Bank of Venezuela and state oil company PDVSA. Additional targeted sanctions address the Gold sector and official corruption, and other measures target the trade of weapons between Iran and Venezuela.
Sanctions have prompted reported use of cryptoassets for evasion. US authorities previously indicted persons for smuggling PDVSA oil with payments in USDT, and press reports indicated PDVSA began requiring USDT in some contracts.
Compliance teams should take three steps: review and update internal sanctions and AML/CFT policies; assess customer and transaction exposure to Venezuela using KYC and blockchain analytics; and ensure sanctions screening can be reconfigured quickly if designations or licenses change. Regulators have acted on failures: in December 2025 the US Treasury’s FinCEN Paxful-facilitating-suspicious”>issued a civil monetary penalty against Paxful for AML/CFT and sanctions shortcomings.
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