Government of Bhutan Holds Over $825 Million, or Nearly a Third of Its GDP, in Bitcoin, Arkham Data Shows
- Reference: 0175114261
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/24/09/23/1940238/government-of-bhutan-holds-over-825-million-or-nearly-a-third-of-its-gdp-in-bitcoin-arkham-data-shows
- Source link:
> "Unlike most governments, Bhutan's BTC does not come from law enforcement asset seizures, but from bitcoin mining operations, which have ramped up dramatically since early 2023," the crypto intelligence firm explained. Crypto intelligence firm Arkham highlighted the Kingdom of Bhutan's bitcoin holdings on social media platform X last week. Bhutan is a small, landlocked kingdom located in the eastern Himalayas, bordered by China to the north and India to the south. The country currently has a population of less than 800,000 people.
We learned last year that Bhutan had been [2]secretly mining bitcoin using its abundant hydroelectric resources since around 2019 . The operation, which began when bitcoin was priced at approximately $5,000, aims to harness the country's vast renewable energy reserves to power mining rigs.
Hydroelectricity already accounts for 30% of Bhutan's GDP and powers nearly all of its 800,000 residents. The government claimed last year that mining profits are used to subsidize power and hardware costs. This revelation makes Bhutan one of the few countries globally to run a state-owned bitcoin mine, alongside El Salvador.
At over $800 million in Bitcoin holdings, the reserve accounts for nearly a third of Bhutan's 2022-calculated GDP.
[1] https://news.bitcoin.com/government-of-bhutan-holds-828m-in-bitcoin-arkham-data-shows/
[2] https://slashdot.org/story/23/05/01/0840251/the-kingdom-of-bhutan-has-been-quietly-mining-bitcoin-for-years
Currency symbol (Score:2)
Is this some sly move by the Bitcoin folks to legitimise using BTC as their currency symbol? ;) BT is normally a currency of Bhutan, such as its official currency BTN.
Tshering Tobgay (Score:2)
is a stupid, stupid man. Did he throw away his nation's wealth at a craptocurrency "exchange" like the one run by Scam Banking-Fraud?
The grand master plan of crypto (Score:1)
The plan for all cryptocurrencies isn't what they want to make you think it is. It's more sinister than the egalitarian image the crypto boys portray for it.
After the 2008 financial meltdown, cryptocurrencies were born out of it, declared to be the means by which people could be freed from banks/governments, and promised to avoid any such future meltdowns from happening ever again.
But the crypto boys watched closely the result of that meltdown, and formulated their plan: create a new form of currency, and
Government funds (Score:2)
Governments are some of the largest holders of Bitcoin. Most of it has been acquired through seizure related to drug crimes. The US owns 212k BTC that used to belong to Silk Road, and other governments have similar holdings.
Environmental impact of bitcoin (Score:4, Interesting)
Doesn't bitcoin use a huge amount of power? For mostly useless calculations. How many calculations are thrown out before they find the right nonce? Saw a pic recently of one of these bitcoin mining farms. There's a lot of hardware doing little productive.
Good for them (Score:3)
Love it or hate it, holding BTC has been quite lucrative over the last ten years. Eventually it may fall, but for now it let's them profit richly when much larger countries overinflate their currency supply.
Re: (Score:3)
All depends on how they manage their wallet. One wrong move and that $800 mil can vanish into thin air.
Himalayan rug pull (Score:2)
or, one right move and the minister of finance is on his way to Tajikistan with a billion dollars worth of bitcoin.
Re: (Score:2)
Imagine inflation if people didn't put money into these vehicles? All that much more money chasing the same goods and services. We should be thankful for people 'investing' in bitcoin.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm fine with people putting their own money into Bitcoin and making profit. But we are talking aboutnational wealth. It is irresponsible to place so many eggs, apparently a third the country's entire egg inventory, into a single basket, that could be vanish at any moment. If a government fund wants to hold risky assets, it should be at least something something useful to the population, such as (for a rural country) zero-interest loans to small farmers.
Re: Good for them (Score:2)
The rest of their GDP is money laundering?