Bhutan secretly builds 'huge' Bitcoin mine

Forbes: Bhutan âm thầm xây khu mỏ Bitcoin ‘khủng’ - Ảnh 1. — Area believed to be a large Bitcoin mine at the site of a planned educational area

Forbes magazine published an investigative report on November 23 claiming that Bhutan appears to have built four state-run Bitcoin digital currency mines, citing informed sources and satellite images.

Satellite images from Planet Labs, Satellite Vu, and Google Earth show mines, data center cooling systems, high-voltage power lines, and substations from hydroelectric plants to the mines. These facilities have never been made public before.

Four major mines

A mine is being built near the Dochula Pass, an area of cultural and political importance due to the 108 memorial temples dedicated to Bhutanese fallen soldiers. It is considered a pilot area for Bhutan's Bitcoin mining efforts.

Satellite imagery from Planet Labs and Google Earth shows the site broke ground in 2020, with construction seemingly completed by late 2022.

Despite being just steps away from a busy highway, Google Street View shows it completely hidden from view by passersby. A second source told Forbes that the ground had been filled in along the stretch to provide additional cover for the area.

The second mine is near Trongsa, a town east of Thimphu and the ancestral home of the current Wangchuck dynasty. The third facility is in the heavily forested Dagana district, near a secondary school for rural children.

Forbes: Bhutan âm thầm xây khu mỏ Bitcoin ‘khủng’ - Ảnh 2. — The area in Dochula is believed to be one of the Bitcoin mines hidden behind dense bushes.

Notably, the fourth and largest mine is located in an area that was planned for a $1 billion project to build an "education city" to establish an international center for "education and knowledge" in Bhutan.

The mine runs along Bhutan’s first paved road, the Phuentsholing-Thimphu Highway, but is hidden in the mountainous terrain. Only transformers and power lines give any indication that this is a Bitcoin mine.

Support the economy?

Bhutan's public investment company Druk Holdings & Investment (DHI) confirmed the existence of the mines. "The locations for Bitcoin mining-related facilities in Bhutan were selected based on the logistical needs of the operations such as power supply and other factors," DHI said.

DHI declined to comment on the locations, citing “not disclosing commercially sensitive details of its operations”.

Bitcoin is seen as a boon to Bhutan’s economy, alongside tourism and electricity exports to India. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has hit its annual revenue of $88.5 million, mostly from $65-a-day visa fees, forcing the country to look for additional measures.

According to multiple sources, Bhutanese government officials began negotiating with Bitcoin suppliers and miners around 2020. Bhutanese officials have not officially commented on the reports.

Mining since 2019?

Druk Holdings & Investment (DHI), the company in charge of Bitcoin mining in Bhutan , said it “entered the mining space” when the digital currency was worth $5,000 per Bitcoin, a price that was in April 2019 but is now $36,000 per Bitcoin, according to The Bhutanese newspaper. Bhutanese import data and satellite imagery show that activity really picked up in 2020. When Forbes asked DHI to confirm that date in May, a spokesperson for the fund would only say that a series of Bitcoin investments had been made “over the course of 2019.” They added that DHI was “currently in the black on its digital asset position.”

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