Bhutan's Secret State-Owned Bitcoin Mining Facilities Uncovered

According to Yahoo News, Forbes has discovered four secret, state-owned Bitcoin mining facilities in Bhutan. The publication utilized satellite imagery from Planet Labs, Satellite Vu, and Google Earth, as well as sources knowledgeable about Bhutan's crypto investments, to identify the locations of the previously undisclosed crypto-mining facilities. The satellite images show long, rectangular mining units and data center cooling systems hidden among dense forests and mountainous terrain throughout the Himalayan country. High-capacity power lines and transformers connecting Bhutan's hydroelectric plants to the mining sites were also visible in the images. One facility was found near Dochula Pass, a sacred area with 108 memorial shrines, while the others were located in Trongsa, a mountainous town in the center of the country, Dagana in the south, and an area called 'Education City,' a failed $1 billion government project aimed at reviving the economy. Forbes believes that construction at these sites began in 2020, based on tracking earth-moving and building construction activities. Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process, consuming around 91 terawatt-hours of electricity annually. Bhutan's crypto-mining operations have caused the country's energy imports and usage to skyrocket in recent years. The kingdom, which has historically sold its surplus of hydropower to India, purchased $20.7 million worth of electricity in 2023. Bhutan's monarch, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, has a keen interest in cryptocurrency and hopes it will help prevent the remote, bio-diverse mountain nation from falling into an economic crisis. El Salvador is currently the only other country known to operate state-owned crypto mines.