About 15 miles outside Bhutan’s capital of Thimphu, Buddhist shrines dot the scenic landscape as prayer flags flutter in the breeze. But tucked away on the mountainside, a Bitcoin mine hums away, drowning out the sounds of the surrounding forest. Its teal roof is barely visible through the pine branches.
In the world of cryptocurrency, major economies like the United States, China and the United Kingdom dominate the landscape. But in recent years, Bhutan has emerged as an unexpected player. Known for its stunning landscapes, commitment to Gross National Happiness and Buddhist ethos, the Himalayan kingdom holds the fourth-largest state-owned stockpile of Bitcoin in the world.
The country’s bold foray into cryptocurrency signals its big ambitions but also represents a lifeline for its struggling economy.
“The grave situation Bhutan is in right now, I don’t think they could have found a better option than Bitcoin mining,” said Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, an associate research fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
Fascinating and unexpected
It’s shameful that we can’t think of something better to do with all that electricity. Data centers, supercomputers even LLMs would create something of social value.
So I am pretty uninformed and I have a gut reaction that I am going to look into today, but I’d appreciate anyone’s insight here. My gut feeling is that crypto is kind of… not-good aligned let’s say. It’s wasteful. It’s often predatory. How can it work with Buddhist ethos?
They use spare hydro power during the off season so the net impact on the environment is negligible.
i doubt there is a strong religious justification for this—most likely, Bhutan is doing it because they are cripplingly poor and limited in how much they can diversify their revenue, and Bitcoin is a fairly good speculative asset