How Bhutan is building a green Bitcoin economy from the ground up

Key takeaways

• Bhutan is using surplus, carbon-free hydropower to mine Bitcoin, converting excess electricity into a liquid digital export rather than curtailing generation.

• Mining and custody are handled by the sovereign investment arm, Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), and confined to designated jurisdictions, limiting retail exposure.

• Officials describe mined Bitcoin as a foreign-currency liquidity buffer that has already supported government finances.

• The central bank permits crypto activity only under a phased, sandbox-style framework linked to Gelephu Mindfulness City, with an emphasis on risk control and transparency.

Bhutan’s pitch to the crypto world is simple: If a country has abundant renewable power and limited domestic demand, it can turn electrons into digital assets.

In practice, the Himalayan kingdom has been quietly doing exactly that: using hydropower to run industrial-scale Bitcoin (BTC) mining and to build a state-backed, values-driven “green digital assets” strategy that officials say can generate hard-currency liquidity, support public spending and help develop a domestic tech workforce.

Step 1: Start with the only natural resource that scales

Bhutan’s energy system is dominated by hydropower, and electricity exports, especially to India, are a core pillar of the economy. Reportedly, Bhutan’s leadership views expanded hydropower capacity as a prerequisite for scaling its “green” crypto ambitions.

The government’s own energy planning documents frame this expansion in large numbers. Bhutan’s National Energy Policy 2025 cites a “techno-economically viable hydropower potential” of 33,000 megawatts (MW), based on the Power System Master Plan 2040, and positions hydropower alongside solar, wind and storage as central to long-term growth.

A World Bank report similarly places Bhutan’s feasible hydropower potential at roughly 33 gigawatts and notes the macroeconomic impact of recent imports of IT equipment linked to crypto mining expansion.

Recent cross-border project announcements underline how tangible the buildout has become. In November 2025, India inaugurated the 1,020-MW Punatsangchhu-II hydropower project and extended a new credit line tied to deeper energy cooperation. Officials also noted that Bhutan’s domestic power demand is around 1,000 MW, with surplus electricity exported.

Step 2: Use surplus hydropower as “computing fuel”

Bhutan’s crypto strategy is spearheaded by Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), the commercial investment arm of the royal government.

In an April 2025 interview with Reuters, DHI CEO Ujjwal Deep Dahal said Bhutan began adding cryptocurrencies to DHI’s portfolio in 2019. He framed Bitcoin mining as a way to increase access to foreign-currency liquidity and create value from surplus hydropower.

Bhutan has used some crypto-related profits to help pay government salaries for the past two years, according to senior officials in Thimphu.

A key industrial lever is the Bitdeer and DHI partnership, announced in May 2023. Bitdeer said the parties planned to launch a closed-end fund of up to $500 million to develop carbon-free digital asset mining operations in Bhutan, leveraging the country’s renewable power and Bitdeer’s mining expertise.

Step 3: Treat Bitcoin like a financial buffer for a seasonal grid

Hydropower systems often face a timing problem: Generation can surge when rivers run high and shrink when flows drop.

In January 2025, Bhutan’s Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) project described the country’s approach as a way to monetize surplus summer hydropower via “green Bitcoin,” then convert that value back into electricity or imports when power is tighter. The project quoted DHI’s Dahal as describing Bitcoin “strategically as a battery.”

That “battery” framing matters because it is one of Bhutan’s most consistent arguments for why mining is not merely speculation. Instead, it is positioned as infrastructure-adjacent, turning otherwise curtailed renewable generation into a liquid reserve asset.

Step 4: Keep it sovereign and increasingly regulated

Bhutan’s mining and reserve-building efforts have attracted attention because they are state-linked rather than purely private. In September 2024, blockchain analytics firm Arkham disclosed that it had identified Bhutan government-linked Bitcoin holdings on its platform and characterized those holdings as originating from mining rather than seizures. However, onchain estimates fluctuate with price movements and wallet attribution and should not be treated as audited public accounts.

On the regulatory front, Bhutan’s central bank, the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA), has publicly signaled a controlled approach. In an April 30, 2025, notice titled “RMA’s Regulatory Stance on Cryptocurrency,” the RMA said it would adopt a phased and focused strategy.

The notice stated that crypto mining and exchanges would be permitted only for entities registered with GMC. Participation would also be limited to business partners operating under the GMC framework.

This sandbox-like containment aligns with how GMC is being positioned as a special jurisdiction with its own policy toolkit and a prominent finance and digital assets pillar. That framework includes a proposed blockchain-linked currency concept, “ter,” and a planned fully reserved digital bank, Oro Bank.

Did you know? In 2024, Bhutan’s state-linked Bitcoin mining operations generated an estimated $750 million in revenue, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.

Step 5: The “green coin” narrative and the risks involved

Bhutan’s officials explicitly emphasize the climate angle. For example, Dahal has argued that coins mined using Bhutan’s hydropower offset coins mined with fossil energy elsewhere and contribute to the green economy.

But even in a renewables-heavy system, these risks do not disappear:

• Volatility and fiscal risk: Bitcoin’s price can swing sharply, and using volatile assets in public finance introduces budgeting risk, even if holdings are built from surplus power rather than taxes.

• Transparency: Onchain tracking is not the same as official disclosure. Audited reporting and clear governance matter when reserves are state-linked.

• Financial crime and consumer protection: The RMA’s phased stance and the restriction of permitted activity to GMC-registered entities reflect a preference for controlled participation rather than open retail speculation.

Testing a green Bitcoin model

Bhutan’s green Bitcoin economy is not a meme trade; it is a state-directed effort to bolt a new export, digital assets, onto the country’s existing comparative advantage in renewable power. The strategy uses a special jurisdiction, Gelephu Mindfulness City, alongside central bank guardrails to limit spillover risk.

Whether it becomes a durable model will depend less on slogans and more on hydropower expansion, disciplined reserve management and how transparently the state accounts for what it mines, holds and sells.