Bhutan puts its entire national identification system on Ethereum
- While many countries are still debating whether to ban or regulate crypto, Bhutan - a small country located in the Himalayas - has gone a long way.
- Recently, they moved the entire identification system of about 800,000 citizens to the Ethereum blockchain, marking a historic milestone in the national digital transformation journey.
- The announcement ceremony was also attended by Vitalik Buterin, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and Crown Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuk.
Ethereum 🤝 Bhutan
— timour kosters (@timourxyz) October 13, 2025
This is cool - Bhutan just integrated the BhutanNDI system with Ethereum.
Vitalik and Aya joined the ceremony with the Prime Minister and Crown Prince.
BhutanNDI is a private SSI system for verifiable credentials on-chain for any citizen related 🇧🇹 pic.twitter.com/Lxi7vlGl43
- According to Ethereum Foundation President Aya Miyaguchi, Bhutan has completed the integration of the self-sovereign identity (SSI) system onto the Ethereum network and is expected to complete it before the first quarter of 2026. Ms. Miyaguchi affirmed that this is the first time in history that a country has put its entire citizen identification system onto Ethereum.
1/ Today, Bhutan celebrates a historic milestone, becoming the first nation to anchor its national digital identity system on Ethereum. 🇧🇹 @VitalikButerin and I were honored to join the launch ceremony on behalf of the Ethereum community, graced by His Royal Highness. pic.twitter.com/KA4tOYbsJ4
— Aya Miyaguchi (@AyaMiyagotchi) October 13, 2025
- This is the 3rd blockchain that the happy nation uses for its national identification system:
The system was initially built on Hyperledger Indy, an open-source platform specializing in digital identities.
By August 2024, Bhutan moved to Polygon for scalability and compatibility testing.
As of now, they are officially deployed on Ethereum.
Mining Bitcoin with clean energy
- In parallel with the digital identity efforts, Bhutan has become the 5th largest Bitcoin holder in the world , behind only the US, China, UK and Ukraine, according to BitBo's Bitcoin Treasuries.
Top countries holding the most Bitcoin today. Source: BitBo's Bitcoin Treasuries (October 14, 2025)
- The country currently holds 11,286 BTC, worth about $1.31 billion, and notably mines most of these Bitcoins itself using renewable energy from hydroelectric dams in the Himalayas.
- According to Blockworks , Bhutan mines an Medium of 55-75 BTC per week, using pools like AntPool, Brains, and Foundry. They even mined Ethereum before the network switched to Proof-of- Stake.
- Bhutan is aiming to become a green crypto hub, where crypto is mined entirely with clean energy. Some other notable points are:
Profits from crypto investments have been used to pay government officials in the past two years.
Bhutan wants to attract global businesses interested in “green” crypto that meets ESG (Environmental - Social - Governance) standards.
The country wants to expand its hydropower capacity from 3.5 GW to 15 GW in the next 10-15 years, aiming to become South Asia's leading renewable energy economy.
This is also part of an effort to prevent brain drain, creating new jobs for young people through high-tech projects such as blockchain and AI.
- According to Lookonchain, in mid-September 2025, Bhutan transferred 913 BTC (~107 million USD) from the national wallet to two new wallets, possibly to restructure security or prepare to reallocate reserves. The original wallet still holds about 9,652 BTC, equivalent to more than 1.1 billion USD.
Royal Government of Bhutan just transferred 913 $ BTC ($107M) to 2 new wallets and still holds 9,652 $ BTC ($1.13B). https://t.co/hiNf1ySism pic.twitter.com/r71p1hucir
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 18, 2025
- Last September, Bhutan also met with former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) to discuss other potential crypto initiatives, but details have not been announced.
Pay in BNB using @Binance Pay in Bhutan🇧🇹, nice and easy. 😏 pic.twitter.com/B5p3YolJjJ
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) September 29, 2025
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