Royal Government of Bhutan BTC Holdings

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The Royal Government of Bhutan holds just over 13K BTC, or $764M worth, revealed for the first time through Arkham’s on-chain data. This places them as the fourth largest government holder of Bitcoin, with the first three being the United States of America, China and the United Kingdom. Unlike many other governments whose BTC holdings originate from seizure of BTC from criminals, Bhutan’s BTC holdings are directly from government funded mining operations, which have reportedly been operational since 2019.

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The effort is funded by the Bhutanese government’s investment arm, Druk Holding & Investments (DHI). Currently, four of their mines have been identified via satellite imagery, with the largest on the site of their failed “Education City” project. The “Education City” project was a $1B project seeking to establish an international center “for education and knowledge” in Bhutan. While the venture failed, the power lines, roads, bridges and infrastructure set the stage for the mining operation which now occupies the plot. Furthermore, DHI has also partnered with Singapore-based cloud mining firm, Bitdeer Technologies Group, since early 2023 seeking to push the capacity of Bhutan’s mining facilities up to 600 megawatts (MW).