Bhutan and Bitdeer founder Jihan Wu to earmark $500 million for Bitcoin mining

The Bhutanese government-established Druk Holding & Investments (DHI) and Bitdeer will create a fund of $500 million to organise cryptocurrency mining in the kingdom.

A fundraising drive is expected to begin in late May.

The project is expected to create new jobs and bring foreign-exchange earnings to the local budget.

The raised capital will be deployed to roll out the necessary infrastructure, in line with Bhutan’s ambitious plans to accelerate digital transformation and diversify the economy through exploration of new sectors.

The latest initiative envisages investments in the development of renewable energy sources, as well as in new technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, carbon-credit platforms and metaverses.

Bitdeer plans to build a data centre with a capacity of 100 MW. Construction of the facility is planned to begin in the second quarter of 2023 and to be completed within the following three months, according to a filing with the SEC.

Bitdeer will be the general partner of the structure, with Druk Holding & Investments as the strategic limited-liability partner.

According to Forbes, Bhutan began mining Bitcoin when it was valued at around $5,000. The proceeds go to subsidising electricity and equipment costs.

Druk Holding & Investments, with assets of $2.9 billion was a client of the bankrupt BlockFi and Celsius. According to the publication, liabilities to the platforms have been settled.

In April 2023, Bitdeer became a public company through a reverse merger with a SPAC.

In 2021, Bhutan’s Royal Monetary Authority entered into a partnership with fintech company Ripple to conduct pilot testing CBDC.