Bhutan’s Druk Holdings, the country’s investment arm, owns over 13,000 BTC, more than twice El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserves. Located in South Asia, Bhutan has revealed it holds significantly more Bitcoin than El Salvador.
On Sept. 16, Arkham Intelligence, an on-chain analytics platform, announced that it had identified a group of addresses holding 13,029 BTC (approximately $758 million) and claimed it was the first to disclose Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings.
Arkham added that Bitcoin holdings accumulated through mining operations conducted by Bhutan’s investment arm, Druk Holdings (DHI).
In addition to Bitcoin, Arkham’s data shows that Druk Holdings & Investment (DHI) holds 656 ETH worth around $1.5 million, along with small amounts of BNB and Polygon.
Arkham corroborated the timeline of on-chain mining activity using time-lapse satellite images of facility construction at the location of the defunct Education City project.
With Bhutan’s GDP expected to reach $3 billion by the end of 2024, its reported holdings make up roughly 25% of its total GDP.
A local media report from early 2023 confirmed that Bhutanese officials began mining Bitcoin with hydroelectric power in April 2019, when the cryptocurrency was priced near $5,000.
The DHI partnered with Bitdeer in May 2023 to develop carbon-neutral mining operations in Bhutan.
They disclosed in April 2024 that they would expand Bhutan’s mining capacity by 500 megawatts by the first half of 2025, raising the total capacity to 600 megawatts.
In September 2021, El Salvador started buying Bitcoin, with BTC prices at $51,700.
According to the Nayib Tracker website, which monitors El Salvador’s Bitcoin portfolio, the country holds 5,875 BTC valued at $331 million, which accounts for around 45% of Bhutan’s Bitcoin assets.
El Salvador bought these holdings at a higher average price of $43,900 per Bitcoin, generating an overall profit of 32.6%.
El Salvador also mines Bitcoin using renewable geothermal volcanic energy. The landlocked Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, located on the eastern foothills of the Himalayas, has a population of just 790,000, while El Salvador’s population stands at 6.3 million.
