Bhutan migrates its national ID system to Ethereum

The South Asian nation of Bhutan is migrating its self-sovereign ID system to Ethereum from Polygon, allowing its nearly 800,000 residents to verify their identities and access government services.

The integration with Ethereum has been completed, while the migration of all resident credentials is expected to finish by the first quarter of 2026, according to Ethereum Foundation President Aya Miyaguchi, who joined Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin at the launch ceremony with Bhutan’s prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, and crown prince, Jigme Namgyel Wangchuk.

“It’s deeply inspiring to see a nation commit to empowering its citizens with self-sovereign identity,” Miyaguchi posted to X on Monday, adding that the Ethereum integration was a world-first. 

“This milestone marks not only a national achievement but a global step toward a more open and secure digital future for the long term.”

Integrating a blockchain-based solution into a government’s national ID system has long been touted as a promising crypto use case, due to its immutability, transparency and privacy features, particularly when zero-knowledge proofs are implemented.