Bhutan, a small Kingdom north of China and south of India, has announced itself as a big player in the global Bitcoin mining complex. According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, the mountain nation holds a stash of 13,029 Bitcoin (BTC worth approximately $755 million at current prices.
The holdings make Bhutan the fourth-largest global government holder of Bitcoin, surpassing El-Salvador and only behind the U.S., China, and the U.K. These three countries amassed Bitcoin wealth by seizing the crypto from criminal operations and acquiring BTC from legal forfeitures.
Conversely, Bhutan made its Bitcoin fortune by investing heavily in BTC mining operations through its investment arm, Druk Holdings.
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Bhutan’s Bitcoin Journey and Global Crypto Adoption
The growth of Bhutan’s crypto journey and mining activities since early 2023 has quietly accelerated. Thanks to the country’s wealth of hydropower resources, it boasts one of the most productive and environmentally friendly crypto-mining operations.
In May 2023, in partnership with Bitdeer, Bhutan raised $500 million to build a completely carbon-neutral Bitcoin mining operation. Bhutan aims to boost its mining power by 600%, firming its pedigree as a leading figure in the green Bitcoin mining space.
This small Southeast Asian country's foray into mining reflects the spread of Bitcoin adoption globally, especially among governments as authorities explore digital alternative stores of value. With its Bitcoin holdings valued at nearly 30% of its GDP, Bhutan affirms a growing financial strategy among governments of various nations to hold and mine cryptocurrency.
In the U.S., presidential candidates like Republican pick Donald Trump and Senator Cynthia Lummis or Wyoming have proposed leveraging BTC as a national reserve asset. MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor and Wall Street titans like BlackRock continue accumulating large swathes of Bitcoin, lauding the asset as technologically superior.
Similarly, El Salvador has bought one Bitcoin daily since becoming the first country to legalize Bitcoin on 7 September 2021. The country, under President Nayib Bukele, plans to dive deeper into its BTC playbook and harness Satoshi Nakamoto's cryptocurrency for its economy.
Fifteen years after debuting, Bitcoin is becoming entrenched in world financial systems and being recognized as the currency of the digital age. Indeed, the race to claim chunks of BTC's fixed 21 million supply has become heated, and more players seem to want a piece of the pie.
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