Bhutan holds 13,029 BTC, making it the 4th largest Bitcoin holder among countries
According to on-chain data collected by Arkham Intelligence, the Royal Government of Bhutan holds 13,029 Bitcoin (BTC), worth approximately $755 million at current prices.
Additionally, wallets linked to the Himalayan kingdom are said to hold 656,013 Ethereum (ETH), worth approximately $1.5 million.
4th among governments
According to CoinGecko data, governments held 2.2% of the Bitcoin supply as of August. The United States was the largest holder with 213,246 BTC, followed by China with 190,000 BTC.
Bhutan came in fourth, holding more Bitcoin than El Salvador (5,800 BTC) as of the end of August, but less than the United Kingdom (61,000 BTC).
However, it has been claimed that Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings are not related to seizures carried out by the authorities, but rather to the Himalayan kingdom’s BTC mining activities carried out by state-owned investment vehicle Druk Holding & Investments.
Mining History of Bhutan
Bhutan has been mining Bitcoin for years, initially keeping it a secret. In 2023, the country expanded its Bitcoin mining efforts to four other locations powered by hydroelectric power plants.
According to on-chain data, wallets linked to the Bhutanese government began receiving BTC in February 2021.
In 2023, the Himalayan kingdom caught the attention of Bitcoin cloud mining and mining services company Bitdeer Technologies Group, which announced a mining data center that began operations in July of last year.
According to Bloomberg, in April, Bitdeer partnered with Druk Holding to increase Bhutan’s Bitcoin mining capacity by six times. As a result, mining capacity in the region will increase to 500 megawatts by the first half of 2025.
