Bhutan becomes fourth largest government Bitcoin holder
Bhutan has become the fourth largest government Bitcoin (BTC) holder, data from Arkham Intelligence, the Royal Government revealed. The country holds crypto worth over $780 million and is currently one of the richest crypto holding countries.
The top crypto-holding government is the United States, with Bitcoin worth over $12 billion in value. Following the US, China holds the second rank with 190,000 BTC. The United Kingdom falls next, holding 61,000 BTC.
Bhutan currently holds 13.047k BTC worth $782.10 million at the time of writing. The country holds more than double the crypto that El Salvador, a pro-Bitcoin nation. El Salvador commands about $350 million in the leading digital cryptocurrency.
Bhutan has an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.11 billion, according to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This implies about under a third of Bhutan’s GDP in Bitcoin.
In addition, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan holds about 656.013 in Ethereum (ETH) worth $1.52 million.
Bhutan’s 2023 wave of bitcoin mining
Bhutan has not derived its Bitcoin from law enforcement asset seizures, which is commonly undertaken by most governments. The country has substantially ramped up its crypto mining operations for Bitcoin since 2023. These mining operations are overseen by the country’s investment arm Druk Holdings.
The Himalayan kingdom has constructed Bitcoin mining facilities in various locations across the country. Its largest facility is on the site of now-disused Education City Project. While the country has substantially increased its mining efforts in 2023, the ventures date back to 2019 when Bitcoin was less than $10,000.
Last year, Bhutan had teamed up with Singapore-based mining firm Bitdeer Technologies Group to develop a 600-megawatt mining farm for Bitcoin by 2025. The move into crypto mining, comes as the kingdom works to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Bhutan’s economy contracted by 10 percent in 2020.
In May of last year, Bitdeer had also partnered with Druk Holding & Investments to develop a 100% carbon-free digital asset mining operation in Bhutan.
