The Prime Minister of Bhutan sheds light on how the country’s Bitcoin reserve has benefited the people.
While all the focus these days is on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Bitcoin strategic reserve plans, a number of countries have already happened on this so-called digital gold.
One of these countries is the Kingdom of Bhutan. The country has been leveraging its abundant water resources to mine Bitcoin since at least 2019. It is currently the fifth largest holder of the asset amongst nation-states, with 13,029 BTC worth over $1.1 billion at the time of writing.
Recently, the country’s prime minister has shed light on how this reserve has benefited the people.
“A Strategic Reserve”
Speaking to Al Jazeera in a roughly three-minute clip shared by the news channel on Thursday, March 6, Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay described Bitcoin as “a strategic reserve” for Bhutan, one that, in his telling, has proved invaluable.
“We have used Bitcoin to provide free healthcare, for environment, but these are minor. The main use of Bitcoin has been to finance the salaries of public servants,” Tobgay asserted.
As highlighted in the clip, Bitcoin mining fills a critical revenue generation gap for Bhutan, a small country that would struggle to compete with the rest of the world in large-scale manufacturing or agriculture.
Meanwhile, Bhutan is not interested in Bitcoin alone but sees potential in the broader digital asset ecosystem. In January, the country announced it was designating Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB as strategic reserve assets in its recently established special administrative region, Gelephu Mindfulness City.
“I think you cannot run away from blockchain. Cannot run away from AI. How blockchain and AI will combine the industry of money, if I may say, and how money flows from one hand to another, because it’s one of the biggest innovation in the space of money, for humanity, from the time we remember where money was discovered or invented,” Bhutan sovereign wealth holding company CEO Ujjwal Dahal told Al Jazeera in the Thursday clip.
Amid Bhutan’s embrace of digital assets, several crypto market participants have hailed it as a pioneer and an example for the world.
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Source: https://thecryptobasic.com/2025/03/06/bhutan-prime-minister-shares-how-countrys-bitcoin-reserve-has-funded-social-amenities-and-salaries/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bhutan-prime-minister-shares-how-countrys-bitcoin-reserve-has-funded-social-amenities-and-salaries