The South Asian country Bhutan, surprisingly holds more Bitcoin than El Salvador. Arkham Intelligence identified several addresses linked to Bhutan, holding 13,029 BTC, valued at roughly $758 million. This is the first time Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings have been publicly revealed. The report states that Bhutan’s investment arm, Druk Holdings (DHI), acquired these assets through Bitcoin mining.
According to Arkham’s data, Druk Holdings also owns 656 ETH, valued at about $1.5 million, along with smaller amounts of BNB and Polygon (MATIC). Arkham confirmed that it matched the timeline of on-chain mining activities with satellite images showing the construction progress at the site of the now-abandoned Education City project.
Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings surge to 25% of GDP
Analysts project Bhutan’s economy will hit $3 billion by the end of 2024, which means its Bitcoin holdings account for about a quarter of its GDP. In early 2023, local news revealed that Bhutan started using its hydroelectric power for Bitcoin mining back in Apr. 2019, when Bitcoin’s price was around $5,000.
However, in May. 2023, Bhutan’s investment arm, DHI, teamed up with Bitdeer to launch eco-friendly mining operations. By April 2024, they announced plans to boost Bhutan’s mining capacity by 500 megawatts, bringing the total to 600MW by mid-2025. El Salvador began purchasing Bitcoin in Sept. 2021, when the price was around $51,700.
As the Nayib Tracker website reports, which monitors the country’s crypto investments, El Salvador now holds 5,875 BTC, valued at $331 million, about 45% of Bhutan’s current holdings. Moreover, these were bought at a significantly higher price, averaging $43,900 per Bitcoin, leading to a 32.6% profit for the Central American nation. Bhutan has a population of only 790,000. On the other hand, El Salvador is home to 6.3 million people.
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