[NEWS] Kingdom of Bhutan to increase mining capacity sixfold ahead of Bitcoin halving

Druk Holding & Investments (DHI), the investment arm of the Royal Government of Bhutan, has announced plans to expand its Bitcoin mining project in partnership with BitDeer, a Nasdaq-listed company that provides a cryptocurrency mining platform. Bloomberg and other media outlets have reported.

This is a plan in anticipation of the Bitcoin (BTC) halving, which will reduce mining rewards. With this plan, Bhutan's mining capacity will increase from the current 100 megawatts to 600 megawatts by the first half of 2025.

The funds needed to proceed with the plan will be raised from a $500 million fund announced by DHI and BitDeer last year. The two companies announced in May last year that they would establish a closed-end fund.

At the time, BitDeer Chairman Jihan Wu said, "We will work with DHI to provide blockchain-related support by utilizing Bhutan's renewable energy." He added that the fund "will support the creation of a network of international stakeholders who may benefit from Bhutan's technology sector."

DHI, which manages more than $2.9 billion in assets, had been secretly building a crypto portfolio before it was revealed that crypto companies Celsius and BlockFi were putting their assets into bankruptcy proceedings.

The Bhutanese government told local media that it intended to start hydroelectric mining operations in 2019, when the price of Bitcoin was around $5,000. Bhutan has a rich supply of renewable hydroelectric power, making it an ideal location for environmentally friendly mining.

DHI and BitDeer are now prepared to deal with the impact of Bitcoin's halving. The Bhutanese government cited the expansion of its mining operations as a way to offset the impact of the halving.

Source: Bloomberg
Image: Shutterstock

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