Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, is pursuing a majority stake in at least three Venezuelan oil operations, according to Bloomberg reporting published Monday.
Ehrsam's move into Venezuelan crude production expands his portfolio beyond crypto into traditional energy assets. The country's crude output has collapsed from over 3 million barrels per day in the early 2000s to roughly 750,000 barrels per day as of mid-2024, according to OPEC data, as sanctions, underinvestment and operational decay have gutted the state-run Petroleos de Venezuela enterprise.
Ehrsam left his role as Coinbase president in 2017 to pursue venture investments and has since been active in early-stage funding through his firm Paradigm, which he co-founded in 2018 with Dan Robinson. Paradigm has deployed capital across blockchain infrastructure, fintech and decentralized finance protocols, but has not previously disclosed major positions in commodities or traditional energy.
Venezuelan oil assets have attracted foreign investors seeking to acquire acreage at depressed valuations as the country's petroleum sector continues to fragment. The Maduro government has pursued joint ventures and asset sales with Russian, Chinese and Iranian entities over the past decade, though U.S. sanctions on the Venezuelan oil sector have complicated transactions involving American persons and entities.
Coinbase itself has faced regulatory scrutiny from U.S. authorities over crypto-related compliance matters but has not been restricted from business operations. Ehrsam's personal investment in Venezuelan fields would not directly implicate Coinbase's regulatory posture, though any transaction involving U.S. sanctions exposure would require compliance review.
The extent of Ehrsam's involvement, the identities of co-investors if any, and the timeline for closing remain unclear. Bloomberg did not report the total transaction value or the production capacity of the three fields.
