According to a recent report published by Bloomberg, Bhutan’s government investment arm Druk Holding & Investments (DHI) and Nasdaq-listed company Bitdeer Technologies Group plan to seek investors for a fund worth up to $500 million that will be used to develop green crypto mining in the Himalayan kingdom.
The regulators are aiming to target institutional investors from May 2023, the goal is to set up carbon-free digital mining that taps Bhutan’s abundant hydroelectric power. Bitdeer expects to set up a 100-megawatt operation in Bhutan, with construction slated to start in the second quarter and be completed in July through September, a regulatory filing shows.
As mentioned by Bitdeer in a recent investor update, This partnership would increase Bitdeer’s mining capacity by about 12%. It further added, “We expect to generate 100 MW out of the 550 MW power supply from Bhutan, where the construction of the mining data centre is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2023 and complete in the third quarter of 2024.”
As stated by CEO of DHI, Ujjwal Deep Dalal in an interview conducted by Bloomberg “it is important for us to look at assets that are low volume, high value or digital assets that matter, and try to position ourselves in a way that we can be competitive globally over time to build our economy,” he also mentioned that mining is the least risky way for Bhutan to tap crypto opportunities and for now, the nation will focus on Bitcoin.
Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) is the commercial arm of the Royal Government of Bhutan, was established in 2007 upon issuance of Royal Charter in 2007 with an aim to hold and manage the existing and future investments of the Royal Government for the long term benefit of the people of Bhutan. DHI, the largest and only government-owned holding company in Bhutan, has shares in 21 different companies operating in the manufacturing, energy, natural resources, financial, communication, aviation, trading and real estate sectors. It is important to note here that as per a report published by Forbes in April, the sovereign investment arm, has been revealed to have invested millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies, including being a customer of now-bankrupt crypto firms Blockfi and Celsius. These crypto investments have raised questions about the lack of transparency in the management of the country’s sovereign wealth.
Bitdeer operates six mining data centers globally with the purpose of proprietary mining, hash rate sharing, and hosting, further it provides mining solutions as well. The upcoming carbon-free digital asset mining operations in Bhutan mark a crucial expansion into Asia of Bitdeer, complementing Bitdeer’s existing data centers in Northern Europe and North America.
