Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam has been staying long-term at a luxury hotel in Caracas this year as he seeks to enter Venezuela’s oil industry. His newly founded company, Primavera, recently signed a production-sharing agreement with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela to obtain oil production rights in the country. Ehrsam, 38, has no traditional oil and gas background but has supported the Trump administration and was invited to serve on the President's Science and Technology Advisory Council. Some Venezuela experts said they had not heard of Primavera and believe its expansion in the country remains highly uncertain.