Bhutan is a small kingdom Located in the Himalayan Mountains. It is just a nation of almost 41 thousand square kilometers. That is, its size is one-third of the state of New York and half of the community of Castile and León. With a predominance of Buddhism, specifically the school Drukpa or Vajrayana Buddhism, this small country of the South of Asia has traditionally had a economy based on sustainability and focused on comprehensive respect for nature.
Its role in the global economic landscape was almost non-existent until 2020. Landlocked and with huge neighbors like China and India, the majority of the country lives from agriculture and has had forestry as its north, since for Vajrayana Buddhists to cultivate, Efficiently managing and conserving natural resources is part of their dogma.
Hydroelectric power as a start
In the 60s, the Bhutanese authorities realized that they had to act economically on a large scale to generate revenue. That's why the idea of exploit hydroelectric power, a renewable energy source that is clearly more environmentally friendly than those provided by fossil fuels.
Everything has gone well in this regard and In 2007 the Tala dam was built with a power generation of approximately 800.000 megawatts (MW). However, The small country produces about 1.600 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of hydroelectric power per year, mainly thanks to the use of water resources in various projects that do not harm the environment and do not leave a carbon footprint.
LINK CARD AND EARNOf the total produced, Almost 70% of this hydroelectric power generated in Bhutan is exported to India. and this constitutes one of the main sources of income for Bhutan's economy. However, in 2009, a mysterious figure named Satoshi Nakamoto, who launched a decentralized finance (DeFi) project without intermediation of banks, authorities or third parties and that was called Bitcoin, with a digital currency called BTCNeither the inhabitants nor the Bhutanese authorities knew at that time what this event meant for them.
Bhutan and Bitcoin in figures
With a population of nearly 800.000 inhabitants, Bhutan has accumulated a reserve of more than 12.200 bitcoins, whose value for the last week of March 2025 exceeds 1.000 million dollars.
This means that a nation the size of an average city in the West and with half its population has BTC that represent 34% of its Gross Domestic Product (PBI). Without media and messianic measures, Bhutan has more Bitcoin blockchain tokens than El Salvador, the first state to adopt this digital asset as legal tender, which it did with great fanfare in September 2021 and whose reserves reach 5.944 bitcoins.
The fifth country with the most bitcoins in the world
According to Bitcoin Treasury data, a platform that is responsible for collecting relevant information on investments made by companies and countries in BTC, Bhutan ranks fifth globally in holding these assets. This means that it is only surpassed by world powers such as United States, China, United Kingdom and Ukraine.
Interest in accumulating and mining Bitcoin arose in Bhutan in 2020 and from its production and export of clean energy. In that year the discussion about the predominant issue was the validation protocol of transactions on the Bitcoin network called PoW which consumed enormous amounts of energy compared to that used by Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), Solana (SOL) and Tezos (XTZ), among others.
BUY BITCOINIn January 2025, the Gelephu Special Administrative Region, the body that, together with the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, acts as the nation's central bank, announced the incorporation of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to its treasury. Both entities have a policy of commitment to sustainability and innovation.
The Gelephu Special Administrative Region is the specific one in the cryptocurrency management and pointed out that, thanks to its strategic location that connects the emerging economies of South Asia, Bhutan has an exceptional opportunity to serve more than 2.000 billion people in the regionIts main goal, however, is to promote the use of blockchain technology and strengthen the local economy through Bitcoin mining and, possibly, other cryptocurrencies.
The key factor behind Bhutan's success with Bitcoin
If mining Bitcoin requires more electricity than mining other cryptocurrencies, how does Bhutan boast about doing it sustainably? The answer lies in its commitment to sustainability, and backed by its abundant energy resources: hydroelectric energy that is generated cleanly and without production of greenhouse gases (GHG).
BUY BITCOINBhutan benefits from an impressive hydroelectric potential that generates almost 24.000 megawattsThis volume of energy is enough to cover twice the energy demand of cities like New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Los Angeles and LondonThis resource was, then, the pillar that led the country to delve into Bitcoin mining in 2020.
The results have been outstanding for Bhutan's economy: operations on the BTC network They generate between 55 and 75 tokens each weekThis is equivalent to income of between $3,6 million to $4,9 million every 7 days.
From 2020 to today, Bhutan has managed to mine and collect fees from a total of 27.727 BTC. This success, however, has been possible thanks to strategic alliances with prominent mining pools such as Braiins, AntPool and Foundry, which have not only guaranteed high yields, but also a sustainable operation based on clean, carbon-free energy.
Bitcoin's silent partner
Thanks to the income obtained through Bitcoin mining, The Bhutanese government has achieved significant social and economic improvements. These include increases in public employee salaries of up to 50%, the creation of new jobs in the technology sector, and the strengthening of its economic reserves. The small nation also provided a lesson to the industrialized world by positioning itself as an example of sustainable mining for crypto operations.
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Looking to the future, the country is expanding its mining capacity Cryptocurrency. It is estimated that by the end of 2025, Bhutan will reach a mining capacity of 600 megawatts. Key projects in this regard include a 100-megawatt mine in Gedu and the Jigmeling Industrial ParkThe first will be developed in collaboration with Bitdeer, a company focused on blockchain solutions, and the second will have a capacity of 500 megawatts and will be operational by the middle of this year.
