Topic: Government of Bhutan Holds $828M in Bitcoin. (Read 884 times)

The day this thread was made, Bitcoin made a high of $61k and $58k, if we average the price that's going to be $59.5k and today Bitcoin is traded around $92k. From $59.5 to $92k, that's 34.7% increase from the day this thread was posted. If we compute that % increase to the amount it was worth, $281.5M increase from September to November, they should have $1.1B worth of Bitcoin in their wallet right now.

They didn't have half of what Germany had back then and they sold everything at an average of $54k. Imagine billion worth of Bitcoin they will be having on their wallet right now. However, the reason of selling wasn't discuss to date. It's possible that was a political call because they have been holding that Bitcoin many years, it will be unreasonable for them to sell all of a sudden but that's bygone since they don't hold any Bitcoin anymore.

As the price of Bitcoin will go up so will the holdings of Bhutan government in Bitcoin. Its a good test case for governments of the world to study and figure out how they can invest in Bitcoin. I wish government of Pakistan (my country) has invested in Bitcoin so they might not be running after IMF for loan package. It's a positive indication that few governments have shown interest in Bitcoin and in future might be big powers also jump in.   

As the price of bitcoin continues to rise and now stands at $1.12B - https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/druk-holding-investments
When the price reaches $100K, the value will be even higher.

Only small countries dare to invest in bitcoin, while their large countries are still hesitant and there are still many who oppose bitcoin as a reserve asset.

We must see with literacy that bitcoin is able to increase profits quite significantly if it is in the current phase such as the Government of Bhutan, El Salvador which has a lot of bitcoin that increases its value.

Okay, how much does bitcoin cost, when was it calculated, I wish the number of bitcoins was stated.
Small countries like Bhutan and El Salvador are evaluating Bitcoin adaptation and mining as a last resort as a starting point, and this desperation may have already put them on the right path.

The good news for Bhutan is that as price of Bitcoin touches 89k, the market value of Bitcoin holdings for Bhutan government is now 1 Billion US dollar. This is an indication for other governments to wisely come and invest in some asset other then US dollar. As OP mentioned on Sep 22, 2024 that Bhutan government has 828 million US dollar holdings in Bitcoin and in less then 2 months that investment has surpassed 1 Billion US dollar. Nothing in world can give that much profit in such short duration.     

Bhutan's Bitcoin Holdings Surpass $1 Billion Amid Price Surge 

This news does not surprise me. The Kingdom of Bhutan is a very progressive (albeit small in area and population) state.

It is the only country in the world where maximizing happiness for all residents of Bhutan is directly stated as a goal (in the Constitution of this country). The use of chemical fertilizers is prohibited in the Kingdom of Bhutan. All harmful industrial production is also prohibited.

Smoking and air pollution with nicotine are prohibited in this state. The Kingdom of Bhutan has excellent asphalt roads, which are pleasant and safe to drive on. All residents are required to learn English.

The Kingdom of Bhutan is ruled by a progressive and enlightened monarch who is interested in innovation and supports scientific and technological progress.

Therefore, the Kingdom of Bhutan created a reserve fund of Bitcoins. I am sure that in the future, all states will do the same. Bitcoin will become the world reserve currency and an integral part of the gold and foreign exchange reserves of all central banks.

Who would've thought the monks would be wiser than many politicians out there 

Bhutan does not buy bitcoin, they mine it, it all started with the fact that they began to accumulate excess electricity, since they have conditions for the placement of hydroelectric power plants, and the population is small, they can afford it. Moreover, this is green energy that does not harm the environment. And in 2024 it became known (thanks to satellite images) that Bhutan built a very solid mining farm, hence it is clear that they are serious about continuing to accumulate bitcoin, but it looks like they will continue to mine bitcoin.

Bitcoin is held by the country of Bhutan, although Bhutan is a very small country and therefore has a very small population. Despite being small, they have expressed their respect for Bitcoin, in the beginning they bought and held the equivalent of 828 million dollars in Bitcoin, and if they continue to buy and hold Bitcoin in the future, they will surely benefit the most.

 As evidenced since 2021, El Salvador has been holding bitcoins through the DC strategy, today they are reaping massive monetary benefits from every bitcoin. If the benefit is to be paid from just four years of holding then it doesn't take much time to get success, just wait to invest. The more you invest and the DCA method, the more likely you are to succeed in investing in Bitcoins.

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I think the wildest thing about this is that this country is primarily monk folk and that’s something that you wouldn’t think you’d find are really smart IT computer monks lmao

They made a very smart decision because if they sell their abundant electricity, export it to other nations, they will only get a fair paid money at that time. By investing the abundant electricity to Bitcoin mining, they will get an asset that increases its value and price with time.

You will not find any better national investment decision than this. People can agree or disagree with this decision from Bhutan but figures show fact and it proves that Bhutan government did a very great thing for their nation and citizens too. Profit from Bitcoin mining can help their national budget and citizens will get benefit from it too.

ROI table show this fact and explains the financial-wise decision of Bhutan.
https://casebitcoin.com/

Hydropower, they have been investing on it, they have The Chhukka Hydropower Project, Bhutan's first mega power project, it was commissioned in the 80's and for sure it game them enough time to take advantage of it and now they are over abundance of electricity.

And some of us here come into this forum maybe around 2017 or earlier, and that's where they started to mine Bitcoin as per report. And now they are gaining the fruits of their labor as they are one of the richest now, in terms of having Bitcoin in their custody and when Bitcoin hits $100,000 at least at the top of the bull run, it will make them a lot of profits.

Despite being the smallest country in South Asia, Bhutan has managed to hold its own on the world stage in cryptocurrency. Bhutan has now become the fifth largest Bitcoin holder in the world, having already accumulated over 13,000 Bitcoins in its investment portfolio. Which has a current market value of around more than eight hundred million dollars which has solidified their position in the cryptocurrency landscape. Not only Bitcoin, this country has more than 600 Ethereum in its investment portfolio.
Moreover, although El Salvador is the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, they still lag behind Bhutan in terms of Bitcoin holdings. If we enter here we will be able to accurately know the total bitcoin holdings of various bitcoin holding countries.
Bitcoin Holdings of Countries & Governments

It's really easy if you can search. Why did you not try with search a little bit before asking?

Bhutan, Tiny Country With $3B GDP, Holds Over $780M in Bitcoin.
Bhutan's secret Bitcoin mining locations.

It's impressive revenue for Bhutan because they only start Bitcoin mining activities since early of 2023. With this good revenue and an impressive lesson from Bhutan, many more countries will consider to do the same at national governmental scale. This trend will be massive for Bitcoin and in the USA, Trump said if he gets enough votes to become a President, he will keep all bitcoins of the USA. government, no more sale, while he will use national money to invest in Bitcoin too.

Donald Trump’s Plan to Hoard Billions in Bitcoin Has Economists Stumped.
Trump's Bold Plan To Use Bitcoin To 'Wipe Out' $35T US Debt

That's just insane and interesting, to say the least.
I am also interested as someone out there how they get their electricity in abundance. More analysis is needed.

You can compare Bhutan holding and El Salvador holding. Let's see.

Bhutan has 13.105K BTC
El Salvardor has 5.885K BTC

The figures show that El Salvador are holding less bitcoins than Bhutan even Bhutan started their Bitcoin investment, Bitcoin mining later than El Salvador. The difference can be explained that Bhutan get bitcoins through mining and that is more sustainable than investment with own money. The nation has abundant sustainable energy for Bitcoin mining.

Data shows bitcoin owned by Bhutan: https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/entity/druk-holding-investments

I don't know if El Salvador has more or Bhutan has more for them to have in bitcoin?

It could be that next year if bitcoin is bullish this country will become a wealthy country especially with a small population if it is equalized maybe the population will get a share.

Now some countries have started to have bitcoin for HODLing.

And if you look at the data, every one in Bhutan could have at least a Satoshi in their wallet with the kind of Bitcoin at their arsenal. So they are one of the top 5 countries that hold so much Bitcoin, like El Salvador, US and China.

Again, they flew under the radar for most crypto enthusiast, but now since they have a lot, everyone is very interested on how such a small country has so much Bitcoin as their reserved. We can only attribute it to their government as they find a way to take advantage of their abundance in electricity to mine Bitcoin. It just shows that Bitcoin can really be a good hedge and holding for any government around the world, big or small.

It says that they are utilizing their hydropower and also government's assistance. On this regard, they are exhausting their renewable sources to cater the need of its people. Also, they have excess energy produced, so they are selling the extra to countries like India. And of course, with such revenue, it can further contribute to the government's financial needs.

Source: Energy in Bhutan

Any country that know that bitcoin can help to boost their economy should go ahead and invest as many as they want, because is obvious that bitcoin nobody knows what the price will increase to, in the next three years, those countries who picked interest on gold investment have never regretted it, till date, because they saw future in gold and that is why they invested in gold, and gold is giving them exactly what they want or needed, that's why if your countries is banking in bitcoin as economy reserved, want you to do is to support because you already know what it will yield.

how they get cheap electricity ? They've no nuclear power plants afaik? They are using the energy of their water falls? Or they use something else to leverage their altitude in the Himalayan mountains? I guess they are able to produce hydroelectricity at a cheap price during spring and other seasons but what are they doing during winter when the water becomes ice and snow?

After El Salvador, it is good news from Bhutan. When OPEC?

A small country like Bhutan to take such groundbreaking steps on Bitcoin is really a matter of pride and Bhutan taught hands-on how to invest on Bitcoin in a populous country like us. Bhutan is one of the SAARC countries in South Asia, but Bhutan is the only one among the SAARC countries to have a record of official Bitcoin reserves.  But I can't say whether other countries have bitcoin reserves but such a move in Bhutan really encourages us to invest more deeply in bitcoin. But my country Bangladesh should take lessons from Bhutan and how to take revolutionary steps on Bitcoin even as a small country should take lessons from Bhutan.

IDK about you but for me this is actually very surprising. I guess that is due to the fact that Bhutan is rarely heard as a country. News like this are important because it can motivate someone else or some country to do the same thing. Moreover, BTC is still/already widely accepted. You even said that almost all countries are hodling it. Post like the OP had is not new either. I mean we shouldn't bashed him for this. I also don't think that he is only doing this to boost his post count because he still write it carefully and precisely. To get merits maybe? But I think he also deserved it. Moving on, China and India are known countries already but the one that can surprise us is the fact that they allow BTC again because AFAIK they have banned it.

Even I was surprised, they didn't write much in the media. Bhutan, I think thinking ahead, sees Bitcoin as a promising investment to help the country's economic development. In fact, I just read that Bhutan is the 4th largest BTC depositor. Uniquely, it was not obtained from confiscation but mining. In fact, it seems that the government is deliberately building a crypto mining factory. It seems that if there is no investigation this news will not come out.  Amazingly, the number of crypto assets owned by Bhutan is 26.9% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bhutan-revenue-bitcoin-mining-developing-nations
 

I am sure that for now only small countries have declared themselves to hold a lot of bitcoin, while large countries have not done so for various reasons and the most common one they throw out is the issue of privacy on bitcoin. Bhutan is a fairly peaceful and prosperous country although not as influential as large countries such as the US or China but I am sure that in the next few years what Bhutan and El Salvador are doing now will have a big impact on their countries and large countries will realize that they are lagging behind Bhutan and El Salvador.

It's a small country yes, but it doesn't matter how huge or small it is, right? We're all for those countries that hold Bitcoin as their public asset. IMHO, this is such a peaceful country and I have read the news that the government per se is mining Bitcoin. That's why it's very ideal for them to get into this industry because they know that there's so much potential that they can get into it while it's still quite young. And if they continue to stack for more while continuing their mining operations, that's a good job and decision for them. AFAIK, one country that held a lot of BTC was Bulgaria but I think they have later on sold it and the same goes for Germany that had became a trending thing just a few months ago.

El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender has caused many countries to change their perspective on Bitcoin. Many countries that were aware of Bitcoin’s existence but did not invest may have changed their plans. Countries, like companies, want to make a profit from their investments. Many people who invest in Bitcoin may not disclose their investments.

Many countries may have invested in Bitcoin and ETH. Some made these investments a long time ago, while others made regular purchases. As time goes by, other countries will also disclose the amount they invested. Perhaps they will continue to invest in Bitcoin without disclosing it at all.

13,076 BTC and 656 ETH. Well, the total amount of the tokens that they're holding might not be the same after 2 years or maybe next year (depending on the situation).

Anyway, many are looking at El Salvador because they're the first country that adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender, but nobody's talking about Bhutan and the amount of coins that they're holding. They might be holding a number of coins, but you can see that around 99% of those are in either Bitcoin or Ethereum which just shows that they trust these top 2 tokens in terms of market cap. With this move of Bhutan, this also shows that any small country out there can do the same as well. Hold Bitcoins if you trust it, and it might help the country at least a little.

Well, if only all of the governments around the world knows how to buy, sell, and keep it secure. Do I expect more of these countries doing the same? Hmmm, I don't know TBH because the type of government Bhutan might've affected this decision of the government buying those Bitcoin, but who knows. We didn't expect a country like Bhutan to buy Bitcoins at this huge, right. I expect more in the future.

Their government is smart, unlike any other country’s government. They know what’s valuable and what can help their country grow financially and independently. But other governments deal with their egos, and hence they don’t want to adapt the Bitcoins. For them, taxes are more important than a nation’s growth. Still, this is good news, and I am sure that the price of Bitcoins will be slightly affected by this good news. El Salvador and Bhutan gained my respect again. Let's see which country joins them in the race now.

If the Bitcoin they get is obtained from bitcoin mining sector operating in their country, I am sure that this can be one of the important factors in driving their economy even better. Because Bhutan is not a big country, it is a small country with a population of only 800 thousand, if their government can manage the this mining sector well, it should help them to prosper their people and open up more opportunities for them to develop. El Salvador is one of the countries that can be a role model for Bhutan, all they need is to be more confident and open to investment, especially crypto mining in their country, that can be capital for them to improve their economy.

Solution? There are no solutions, that comes with the territory of freedom and permissionless transactions.

But how i was being negative? I already mentioned that it's wild that they participate to mining, which i see as a sort of positive thing. I see positivity when there's positivity. I only have problems with huge whales hoarding it, and i see it problematic if governments are becoming those whales. But please explain how more of this positivity helps, when something just mainly affects to the pump-a-nomics of bitcoin?

Let me quote myself from earlier thread so i can elaborate my view on this and governments being involved:

Maybe you can see from that point i am making. It's not that i am against it, i am more of nihilistic about this then idealistic and that means that i accept to work with regulations rather then fighting them, even though they can dismiss the underlying fundamentals / benefits the bitcoin had and the reason it was created. I don't however hope and pray for governments or leaders to be involved, and i don't get why so many are.

I really thought that underlying ideology behind the cryptocurrency holders had, would be idealism of self-custodity and freedom. But i guess they are as nihilistic about this as me, and instead of believing in decentralization they are just using it as a buzz word. Imho if we rely on governments on bitcoin mooning, then the price is based on nothing but promises and compliance. And i can't see those having anything to do with the fundamentals of bitcoin.

Governments in all countries should also save money in BTC. By saving money in BTC, the country will get a huge profit, I am sure that people in countries that save BTC will also get profit. What is certain is that by making a profit when the price of BTC rises, the government can pay off the country's debts, the government can also provide assistance to its poor people.

El Salvador legalized Bitcoin through legal tender, a landmark event in world history and currently small countries like Bhutan have legalized it. With the ever-increasing demand for bitcoins and the ever-increasing price trend, more state institutions will start holding bitcoins in the future, as has happened in Bhutan.

Although Bhutan is a small country in South Asia, it is known as a holder country of Bitcoin.  But my country has not been able to give any approval to Bitcoin so far. This landmark move by the Government of Bhutan will further strengthen the acceptance of Bitcoin in Bhutan. Bhutan holds over 886 million dollars worth of bitcoins and will increase its holdings of more bitcoins in the future.

Yes, they are actually holding more bitcoins than El Salvador which means they were the first country that gained higher interest on bitcoin than El Salvador was. It just shows that small countries should never be underrated most particularly when it comes to acquiring the latest innovation of blockchain technology. I just hope more small countries will be able to prove this later in the future.

I don't think this has anything to do with the excitement or happiness of individuals, it's just something that is circulating the internet these days and when that happens, people tend to discuss it, that is a normal thing, I believe.


I don't see any logic in what you are saying here. A country owning and mining Bitcoin will boost adoption within the country, and once the news spreads around the globe, more people will have their confidence boosted when they know that now countries are also involved, it must be something good. The effect might not be that big since it's a small country, but something positive will come out of this.


They should unless they lack basic education, have never read a geography book, and haven't seen a world map.

Don't know how legit this information is, but it should be something very beneficial for them if the yare doing something like this. I think we would have heard about it beforehand and not after this much time, but I am glad to see that world governments are trying to finally put some money into crypto because they realize that it's a great way to leverage their debt against fiat and this would mean that when their fiat devalues and that happens due to inflation at every year, we are going to see bitcoin help them pay their debt without much issues.

I believe that nearing a billion dollars is a great help and should pay for a lot of things as well. I am still not fully convinced somehow that this is them though, it could be someone else, I am not entirely sure they have something like this because it's a huge news and learning about it after so much time feels like it is not realistic, we should have heard it when it first started and not so much time later than what it is.

Yeah, they did the right thing, and I think their initial investment in terms of devices used was small compared to what they gained through mining. Even if Bitcoin hadn't been successful, I wouldn’t call what they did high risk since they were just using their own resources. The leaders of their country are really smart, and it's great that one of them is a Bitcoin enthusiast.

It’s just sad to think that their Bitcoin holdings are even larger than the economy of our country, which is valued at only $471.5 billion. I wish our government had mined too, but most of our resources are controlled by private investors and the electricy is expensive. 



Thanks for adding this information, so their biggest purchase was last March 14 this year.. they did great again.

This is how a revolution first begins. Not everyone comes in the beginning, they will come gradually. First came El Salvador, despite being a small country, Bitcoin investment has been encouraged. They found their potential in Bitcoin. Not only that, but they have also realized that Bitcoin will be one of the mediums of exchange in the future. In other words, apart from investment, they have various plans which they are slowly progressing towards implementation. As far as I know they have also included bitcoin education in national education programs for everyone's knowledge of bitcoin relations. Every move they make is going to be successful. But these success stories will not be revealed very quickly, it takes time.



Bhutan is a small country in Asia. The number of citizen there is relatively less but the point is that they too have been able to understand that Bitcoin is the future. Bitcoin must be left behind when considering its future. I applaud the bold step taken by Bhutan Government. Many may be negative about buying Bitcoin but those critics will be silenced as it appreciates over time. As was the case with Nayib Bukele.

Bhutan has found clever way to stay financially independent by using Bitcoin mining. This helps keep China from controlling their economy. Bhutan relied heavily on tourism, so finding new sources of income was important. Bhutan Bitcoin efforts have paid off allowing them to resist China influence. Unlike neighboring Nepal, Bhutan remains in control.

Bhutan strong cultural values shaped by its royal history guide wise decision making. Bhutan Bitcoin success inspires other small countries to take control of their economies and protect their independence. If Bhutan Bitcoin assets grow it will strengthen its economy and preserve its unique culture.

You need to know that these two countries have huge differences in population, economy...everything, so this comparison is quite lame. Germany has over 83 million people and an annual GDP of over $4 trillion, $2 billion or $3 billion is nothing to them. Also, as far as I know, they confiscated those bitcoins from a pirated movie site and they had to sell them because it's government regulation, they can't keep them even if they wanted to. Furthermore, isn't it a good thing they sell bitcoins? Governments holding too much bitcoin is not a good thing, not only does it make the currency more centralized but it could also cause more panic in the market in the future.

It's said that great things starts from small beginnings just like when Bitcoin was created it was a few people that gave it attention. Now that small countries are hodling Bitcoin, it's only a matter of time before bigger countries will begin to understand what they're missing out by not adopting it. Considering that Bhutan, is a small country with a small population it makes sense for them to leverage on the potentials of Bitcoin to grow their economy. With their surplus power generation it is a plus for them to take advantage of Bitcoin mining. Generally it is a welcome development for the Bitcoin community to add another country to it's list and I hope that other countries whether big or small will follow their lead.

Bhutan, being majorly dependent on tourism, had to find a way to increase their income. Otherwise they would be gulped by the Land-mafia government of China. Their Bitcoin mining operations are providing them with the much needed financial freedom and that's why China is not able to put them under debt trap. It's a great thing! I wish their holding increases to billions of dollars so that they do not have to become dependent on any other country.

I had visited Bhutan during my school days when it was a monarchy and I was amazed to see the disciplines they follow. Bhutan and Nepal, both are located very strategically in the lap of Himalayan range. While Nepal has fallen in front of China, Bhutan is still a bright exception. I hope they remain that way with the help of Bitcoin mining operations they control.

It seems like you only like to look at the negative side of things. Why can't you look at the positive side like everyone else, the fact that governments mine or hold bitcoin shows they also see its potential and importance? Besides, even if we don't like it, what can we do and what good is complaining?

Like Bitcoin ETFs, many people don't like it because it makes Bitcoin centralized but how to prevent all this? How to prevent governments from interfering with bitcoin as it becomes more and more popular? Do you have any solutions? Instead of complaining constantly but still having no way to stop them, we should adapt.


Just because you doubt it doesn't mean it won't happen, as iBaba said above: Rome wasn't built overnight. Look at the positive side and expect it to happen instead of doubting and complaining because that doesn't help.

Rather than selling their unused, abundant electricity to other countries and get fiat currency in return, Bhutan do their investment into Bitcoin mining and it is very good investment. With their own clean and sustainable electricity resource, Bhutan will get good profit from Bitcoin mining and bitcoin has increasing purchasing power with time, that is opposite with fiat currencies with decreasing purchasing power with time.

No. They continue to buy bitcoin in 2024.
https://bitcointreasuries.net/entities/el-salvador

Pretty sure it's because they're a small country that they're able to do this. There's a lot less risk involved with them compared to bigger countries doing it, not to mention that I'd feel it can be a nightmare if every big country started their own Bitcoin mining farm. And it wouldn't be as surprising if big countries started to join, it'd be pretty normal in the eyes of Bitcoin ethusiasts.

It might be partly because their holdings come from mining than buying? I mean it is pretty surprising. And yeah, gotta admit I also didn't know such a country even existed in the first place!
To add, their holdings didn't come from being purchased in the market so I highly doubt it had much of an influence. You can compare them to a large mining group imo in terms of influence really. The only difference is that they're from the government of a country.

I love this, unlike the German government that had $2b worth of Bitcoin some weeks ago and instead of holding and build more mining farms, they decided to dump everything around $53k and now Bitcoin is trading slightly above $63k, I can only imagine now much of $10k they would have made on every single Bitcoin they had that time but unfortunately they sold everything, that profit is now in the hands of the people that bought it from them.

If all countries can replicate the same thing like BHUTAN is doing on Bitcoin adoption, the rest of the world will be aiming to.hst more Bitcoin but it's even okay like this, if Bitcoin was to be everything all the government are after, we will see the mining business diluted and the companies that are mining now will be the ones struggling to mine a single block of transactions because the hash rate might not favour them again since they will be mining with less equipment/mining machine.

I thought that they had just confiscated it like other countries, but they are freaking mining it? That's pretty wild, however i am not that confident that getting governments mining bitcoin is a good idea. These countries policy for mining can change over night with elections, and dumping / market suppression is a real threat.

And i doubt that many countries would go this road, as putting this much weigh on critical infra like electricity and depending on the income of that is risky as hell. Especially with countries like venezuela, that would risk their grid that's already unstable enough. And since electricity isn't cheap, it needs special conditions like mining occasionally with waste energy. That could actually work.

I totally agree with you. Just a few years ago nobody would have ever thought that a country/government would hold some bitcoins, now we have El Salvador and Bhutan and people complain that "they are too small". I really don't get, can't we just simply appreciate all these positive changes? Everything takes time, whoever thinks things will be quick and easy should go somewhere else.

Wow, I'm surprised that there is a small country whose existence is quite foreign to our ears but has a large amount of bitcoin. It's worth keeping an eye on as their movements don't seem to be exposed much. The government in Bhutan really understands that what they hold is one of the keys to creating better economic growth in the future.
I tried to find information about Bhutan and indeed this country is isolated from the outside world but is dubbed the happiest country in the world. it does not rule out the possibility of a bitcoin payment system being implemented there.

That's a good news, most of us know that Bhutan is a crypto and mining friendly country and thus holding that much amount of Bitcoin by such a country makes sense. I believe they've plans to Hold Bitcoin for long term as a reserve asset to fight inflation that's present in fiat system. I guess the Bitcoin reserve is going to be very helpful for Bhutan and there's chance that Bhutan might make Bitcoin a legal tender.

We have been having the same discussion on our local board HERE .
Bhutan has been mining bitcoin without any issues from the government and has been able to accumulate over 13000 bitcoins.
That's around 1/3 of the GDP of Bhutan which is a significant number but the question arises that who holds these bitcoins.
Whether it's the King of bhutan or the investment firm Druk Holdings are having the private key to all the bitcoins.

$828 million is equivalent to 13k BTC and it took just 1 week for bitcoin ETFs to reach that number. But ETFs have been buying bitcoin for months now and they're holding close to 1 million bitcoins, but ironically even that hasn't been able to trigger a bitcoin bull run for bitcoin, so far. Do you think that just because this small country holds a negligible amount of bitcoin, and it has impacted the market and caused bitcoin to increase? Does this make sense?

Have you tried checking MicroStrategy's previous bitcoin purchases? I bet you will be more surprised and disappointed than you think because almost every time they buy, the market corrects afterward. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not but this happens often.
Fed rate cuts have a positive impact on the entire world economy, not just bitcoin. If you don't believe me, you can check the gold and stock markets and you will see.

Yeah, I saw that. That’s why I compared Bhutan to El Salvador since El Salvador is on the list with relatively low holdings compared to what's being reported now.

Definitely, and it's a global currency that's bound to increase in value in the long run, regardless of what happens to any country’s economy. We've already seen this before, Bitcoin has had its ups and downs, but if you look at the bigger picture, the trend is always upward.


So El Salvador's last purchase was way back on Nov 17, 2022? No wonder their holdings aren't that huge, but they timed their buy really well since the price was below $20K at the time, compared to the current price, which is now over $60K.

By news like this one you mean Bhutan holding Bitcoin? Although I think this is good news, and a beautiful anecdote at least for crypto-enthusiasts like us, I don't think it has nothing to do with the recent surge in price. The rate cuts yes, of course, but that's another topic.

Compared with the top hodlers mentioned above, the amount might sound ridiculous, but I think Bhutan's is a very good rate per capita, if we take into account their small population.

Recently there was a pump in the price of Bitcoin, from $58k to $65k  and someone said it's because the US cut down the interest rate by 0.5% which didn't actually make a much different from the previous time. But I think  news like this one and the other news about micro strategy acquiring 18k+ Bitcoin is what makes the price of Bitcoin to surge high.

I have read this news already on another platform and it is good to know that Bhutan is holding that much Bitcoin. But OP, you are one of my countrymates and I want to give you some advice regarding creating such news threads.

If someone wants to read news like that, they can go to the new websites and read the news. When you are creating such a thread, we expect the OP to write something on their own. If you do not write your point of view regarding the news, what are we supposed to discuss here? If you continue to create such threads by copy-pasting the news only without writing a word from yourself, the entire section will be flooded with the news. This is not a criticism but advice.

According to the screenshot, Bhutan holds 826 Million in Bitcoin and the rest 2 million in Altcoins.

We might be surprised that such a small country with limited resources has made such a big splash, but the leadership and the people here have huge faith in Bitcoin and have recognized its tremendous benefits. If I’m not mistaken, this country has the largest Bitcoin reserves of any country investing in it.

We can really see the influence that El Salvador has had, and it’s undeniable that many other countries are starting to open their eyes to these kinds of opportunities. That is why we can’t just overlook this because bitcoin has proven itself time and time again were people are not disappointed from investing despite the high risks.

The full list is accessible with the following website but it does not update information for Bhutan.
https://bitcointreasuries.net/

Bhutan has abundant energy and rather than export it to other neighbor countries, their government decided to use unused energy for Bitcoin Mining. It is a smart decision because it can help the nation increases their national treasury by mining and holding bitcoins.

El Salvador is one of two countries where Bitcoin is Legal Tender but it is the only nation has Bitcoin Legal Tender enforced practically. There is a portfolio tracker on El Salvador.
https://nayibtracker.com/

It has a page for Micro Strategy portfolio tracker too and I hope the author will add Bhutan to the list.

The top three holders of Bitcoin are the [1]USA, [2]China, and the [3]UK^{(based on ranking)}. They hold billions of dollars in Bitcoin. https://coinpedia.org/news/countries-with-the-highest-bitcoin-holdings-in-2024/

However, the interesting thing about Bhutan is that most, if not all, of their Bitcoin holdings came from their mining operations. In contrast, the major countries mentioned mostly acquired their holdings through asset seizures. If you look at the difference, these major countries had an easy way of accumulating Bitcoin, using their power to seize large amounts with little effort.

As for El Salvador, which became the first country to declare Bitcoin as legal tender, it's a great example of a true crypto-enthusiast nation. However, as of now, it seems Bhutan holds more Bitcoin than El Salvador.

It's probably around 13,079BTC based on the price of BTC when OP made the screenshot/post. @Ricardo11 take note and possibly change the amounts to be writing in BTC as hugeblack said.

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BTW, it's a good move that the country in question has chosen bitcoin to be their biggest investment in crypto and since they have a very small number or citizen and a small capacity for natural resources they have figured out that BTC might be another for of mineral resources (digital gold) hence putting some of the countries capital in to it is very good.
We will keep seeing adoptions like this, fact remains that major countries would probably be the last to adopt but smaller countries would find themselves into it first.

Such holdings should be estimated in comparison to some points of reference. So my interest, for example, was to find out more about Bhutan's economy and their GDP. They nominal GDP is tiny, one of the smallest in the world. It is only 2.8 billion dollars. I know, hard to believe, but it seems true. So if annual GDP is 2.8 billion USD, then we're talking about almost 30% worth of GDP in BTC holdings. Now that's hugely impressive if you ask me.
Of course, since it's a small country in an isolated part of the world, and since in global economy this amount isn't that high, the global impact of such news is not significant. But on the scale of this country, it is a lot of trust being put into Bitcoin, and I hope it works out for Bhutan.

I see some people getting excited and happy about this news but I really don't see anything special or worth getting excited about. These days, news of a country holding bitcoin is no longer surprising news, especially for small countries.

You are right, even if more countries openly own bitcoin it does not mean that bitcoin will be widely accepted as an investment opportunity for governments. Like the German government, they don't even care about it and are willing to sell it all at any price.

I guess many people here didn't even know Bhutan existed until this article appeared.

The OP needs to make some adjustments to the title. First, the $828M holdings are not just for Bitcoin alone, but they comprise the holding at the address that belongs to the Bhutan government.
 
According to the source provided above, the actual number in Bitcoin is 13.076 BTC, which is worth $826.31M. The rest of the holdings that amount to $828M are from Eth, which is 656.013 Eth worth $1.6M+, and other coins that don't amount to $20 each.

More and more small countries with no valuable resources are beginning to understand that bitcoin is a "golden ticket" to the future for them. While large and resourceful countries are trying to figure out what actions to take in relation to bitcoin, little Bhutan has managed to save up ~13,000 BTC.

I assume that mass adoption (or at least tolerance for bitcoiners) of bitcoin will come from such small countries loyal to bitcoin, and not from large and powerful European ones.

It is better to write the number in Bitcoin as the value may change over time and then we will know how much $828M will be worth after several months or years. I did not know that they had Ethereum holdings so they may not have only been mining Bitcoin or they have been mining Bitcoin and Ethereum for a long time.

I knew it already, that ever since the time I've heard them talk about the discovery of a hidden bitcoin mining facility from one of the Himalaya's Dam, i know they are worth doing something bigger because they were operating underneath and are not giving a public impression of the worth on what they are up to, this could be impressive as well, because the discovery about their mining facility is what we have to first see that had been long operating before noticed, while on their holdings, they could have an increasing holding capacity with time if they continues like this, i wish a country like this could be the one to join the third one to make bitcoin a legal tender.

Such a small country jumping into Bitcoin is interesting, and a good news. It really underlined the strategic shift toward holding $828 million in Bitcoin, mainly from their mining operations. That wasn't due to seizures of the assets, as some governments do, but large-scale mining that really ramped up in early 2023. By using Bitcoin, Bhutan should be able to broaden its traditionally single-industry economy, which depends on hydropower. Their strategy could easily become a model for other small nations willing to enter the crypto world.

Bhutan holds BTC. OK, but so what? Almost all the countries around the world are holding seized Bitcoins. Some small and underdeveloped countries like Bhutan and El Salvador are investing in Bitcoin, but that doesn't mean that Bitcoin will be widely accepted as an investment opportunity for most governments around the world. There's no point of writing forum posts about "Country A having X amount of Bitcoins", unless you want to boost your post count. I would be really surprised of news about China and India investing in BTC. Nobody cares about countries like Bhutan.

Bhutan is a small country with 800,000 inhabitants, but it looks like they have understood that bitcoin is important for them. I think there are many more countries that own bitcoin and dont publicize it. El Salvador will always be the number one country that has decided to do this and so far they are successful with it and I think in 2025 they will be even more successful. Many other countries will see this and discuss to buy bitcoin. Bhutan has made it right now, very well.

And if I'm not mistaken, they hold more than El Salvador, so the government of Bhutan is under the radar for many years. And that is something that their government should be proud of, as it could mean 25% of the country's GDP.

And if you can see, they have a diversified portfolio. So along the way, the government of Bhutan knows something that other government is the world doesn't, and that is to stack as much Bitcoin and other crypto as they can.

For a landlocked country that depends on agriculture and aid to survive, Bitcoin mining is a good means of diversification of its economy. It has a surplus power generation that is even exported to India, which means that Bitcoin mining is a good option. Not selling the coins they have mined might be an indication that they have the long-term knowledge of investing in the sector. The Kingdom of Bhutan might not be a big country, but it is a plus to the Bitcoin ecosystem to see nations that are genuinely investing instead of waiting for seizures.

I believe in the philosophy that says, Rome was not built over night and that big steps begin with small moves and that is why I am always very happy and excited to hear about news like this. When countries were being colonized, it didn't necessarily begin with the big country but small and medium sized countries, before they gradually take over bigger countries.

El-Salvador is one of the countries who have participated well in the adoption of Bitcoin technology in its country's financial institutions. Now, imagine if Putin finally gets to implement its announcement to adopt Bitcoin for its international trades and if Bitcoin also get favored by Donald Trump when he assumes the office as the presidet of the United States of America, what will you think about bitcoin by then?

News like this is good news, the pity is that it is such a small country. Any medium-sized European city has more GDP than this country. Although it is logical that the pro bitcoin movement starts in small countries like El Salvador or Bhutan. Hopefully larger countries will join in over time, perhaps soon the USA.

The government of Bhutan currently holds $828 million in bitcoins.

A small country located in the eastern Himalayas with a population of less than 800,000. This country's government currently holds over $828 million in BTC.

"Bhutan has built bitcoin mining facilities in multiple locations, the largest of which is at the site of the now-defunct Education City project," Arkham Intelligence said.

Arkham also said the crypto intelligence firm explained that it was able to confirm the activity by reviewing satellite imagery and matching the timeline of onchain mining operations. "We were able to support the timeline of on-chain mining activity with time-lapse satellite images of the facility's construction," unlike most governments, Bhutan's BTC law enforcement does not come from seizing assets, but from bitcoin mining operations, which have dramatically increased since early 2023 increased.

News link:
1) https://news.bitcoin.com/government-of-bhutan-holds-828m-in-bitcoin-arkham-data-shows/
2) https://www.aicoin.com/en/article/419903