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.

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