In Bhutan, bitcoin reserves are already common currency

{"text":[[{"start":8.95,"text":"Donald Trump may have called for a strategic bitcoin reserve, but while the US president grabs headlines, other sovereigns are quietly amassing their own kitties. "},{"start":17.417,"text":"Bhutan, a tiny kingdom so esoteric it measures happiness the way more humdrum countries measure economic output, holds the fifth-biggest national bitcoin stash. "}],[{"start":26.82,"text":"Countries come by their tokens in different ways. "},{"start":29.649,"text":"Crime kick-started Washington’s booty. "},{"start":31.917,"text":"US federal law enforcement seized bitcoin when taking down the Silk Road online marketplace — assets in this case being the bitcoin buyers used to purchase drugs, arms and other contraband on the dark web. "},{"start":42.922,"text":"Forfeits from crime also explain the UK’s 61,000-odd bitcoin, as of the end of December. "}],[{"start":49.08,"text":"Bhutan’s haul derives from a more wholesome source. "},{"start":52.259,"text":"The Himalayan kingdom mines its own coins, harnessing rivers to power the computers. "},{"start":57.001999999999995,"text":"There is a nice circularity to this. "},{"start":59.144,"text":"Exporting hydropower would be expensive and inevitably require new infrastructure, not all of which would necessarily be aesthetically pleasing. "},{"start":66.387,"text":"So instead Bhutan monetises the energy — turning gigawatts into money — by mining bitcoin at home. "},{"start":72.267,"text":"That’s helpful for a country with few wealth-generating levers at its disposal; it imports nearly everything and manufacturing is a non-starter. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":79.95,"text":"Britain’s holding is around five times the size of Bhutan’s, but much smaller relative to the economy. "},{"start":85.804,"text":"Even at bitcoin’s peak it wouldn’t cover a fortnight’s funding for the health service. "}],[{"start":90.78,"text":"Sovereigns talk up the inflationary hedge aspect of this “digital gold”. "},{"start":94.984,"text":"Like gold, its scarcity value theoretically protects it from inflationary pressures — although in practice bitcoin has proved too volatile to make the case. "}],[{"start":103.63,"text":"But there are obvious risks to states holding chunks of a highly volatile asset backed by nothing more than lines of code. "},{"start":109.77199999999999,"text":"Current kitty sizes may not be enough to raise hackles, but recent months have highlighted yet again just how wild this ride can be. "},{"start":116.652,"text":"The Trump bump pushed bitcoin past $105,000 in January but, like other assets, it has since lost ground and now sits at just over $83,000. "}],[{"start":127.14999999999999,"text":"Buyers in the wake of the coin’s Trump bump include Saudi Arabia, traders reckon. "},{"start":132.029,"text":"El Salvador, undeterred by the strings attached to a pending IMF bailout, continued to buy bitcoin last month. "}],[{"start":139.10999999999999,"text":"China may, or may not, have a kitty not far short of Washington’s. "},{"start":143.664,"text":"To a country keen to diversify away from the dollar and comfortable stockpiling everything from pork to critical minerals, a strategic bitcoin reserve might not seem outlandish. "},{"start":152.78199999999998,"text":"True, the token is banned in the People’s Republic, but exceptions can always be made. "}],[{"start":158.63,"text":"Sovereign bitcoin reserves are a relatively small phenomenon but they are probably here to stay. "},{"start":163.922,"text":"One reason is that old-school currency reserves are also becoming riskier. "},{"start":167.952,"text":"See, for instance, speculation that the US might pursue a so-called Mar-a-Lago accord to weaken the dollar. "},{"start":174.007,"text":"Should a new monetary system come about, that might just create a space for an alternative like bitcoin. "}],[{"start":179.41,"text":""}]],"url":"https://d33mkcasurz97s.cloudfront.net/album/197003-1741975405.mp3"}