The mysterious country located at the foot of the Himalayas - "Bhutan" (Bhutan) has actively developed state-owned mining operations in recent years. It has accumulated more than 780 million US dollars worth of Bitcoins, equivalent to three thirds of its gross domestic product (GDP). One percent, becoming the fourth largest “national Bitcoin whale” in the world.

Unlike the United States and Germany, the Bitcoins held by Bhutan do not come from law enforcement seizures, but from the cryptocurrency mining business operated by the sovereign investment institution Druk Holding & Investments (hereinafter referred to as Druk).

Blockchain analysis platform Arkham issued an article stating: "Bhutan has built Bitcoin mining facilities in multiple locations, and the largest mine is located at the former site of the now-defunct Education City project. Since the beginning of 2023, Bhutan's mining business has Rapid growth."

Bhutan is the 4th largest government with Bitcoin holdings on our platform, with over $750M in BTC.

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. pic.twitter.com/5bCRk9ajti

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) September 16, 2024

These mining facilities may be related to Singaporean mining giant Bitdeer (BTDR). The company announced last year that it would cooperate with the Bhutanese government to establish a cryptocurrency mining operation in Southeast Asia and raise more than $500 million for the project. Bitdeer later confirmed that It built a 100-megawatt (MW) mine and announced in April this year that it would expand Bhutan's mining capacity to 600 MW by 2025.

"The Bhutanese" asked Druk last year about the profitability of the mining business. Although Druk did not respond directly, he assured that the project can basically "recover", and one of the ways is to sell it. Part of the bitcoins mined are used to cover operating expenses, electricity bills and the purchase of mining machines.

Druk emphasized at the time that investing in Bitcoin mining was a strategic move, not a plunge out of FOMO, and Druk was not involved in the cryptocurrency trading business, so the level of risk was not high.

According to Arkham’s tracking, Druk’s Bitcoin wallet has performed multiple deposit and withdrawal transactions in the past few weeks, continuously receiving Bitcoins from the mining company Foundry and other undisclosed Bitcoin addresses, up to 2 Bitcoins.

At the same time, Bhutan also regularly transfers Bitcoin to other wallets, and sometimes even to cryptocurrency exchanges. A transaction in early July this year showed that Bhutan transferred more than $25 million worth of Bitcoin to Kraken , speculating that the asset may have been sold.

〈Promote to the “4th National Whale” by mining! Data: Bhutan holds $780 million in Bitcoin> This article was first published on "Blocker".