In November 2021, El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele stood before a crowd of rapt crypto enthusiasts, promising to transform the country into a Bitcoin paradise. While many of his bolder plans—such as a billion-dollar Bitcoin-backed bond and a brand-new crypto city—have yet to materialize, Bukele can celebrate one aspect of his plans: the Bitcoin El Salvador amassed during his tenure recently soared to over $550 million, according to one open-source tracker.
While other nation-states have yet to venture into the volatile gamble of crypto holdings, another tiny nation—Bhutan—has also seen its wager pay off, with government-associated wallets tracked by the blockchain analytics firm Arkham soaring past $1 billion, representing more than one-third of the country's gross domestic product.
As digital asset prices have spiked following the election of the crypto-friendly Donald Trump, many advocates have pushed for governments to acquire Bitcoin as part of their strategic reserves, similar to oil or gold. Trump himself has even flirted with the plan, though he has not outlined any steps to implement government purchases.
Even as other governments explore the technology, El Salvador and Bhutan represent two of the handful of countries to have adopted blockchain as part of their national strategies—and, at least for now, have profited handsomely off the gamble.
Bitcoin economies
According to a Salvadoran government website, the Central American nation holds nearly 6,000 Bitcoin. The separate independent tracker, which indexes the country's purchases based on the frequent tweets of Bukele, puts the figure closer to 6,200.
While other governments such as the U.S., China, and the United Kingdom hold more Bitcoin, they don't do so as an economic strategy, instead seizing the cryptocurrencies through legal operations. El Salvador, instead, intentionally purchased Bitcoin as part of Bukele's grand crypto vision, which he first announced at the Miami Bitcoin conference in June 2021.
El Salvador may have seen its national wealth grow through its Bitcoin holdings, but Bukele's initial plans had a wider scope than just owning crypto. Bukele implemented a plan to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in the country, with the idea that citizens would use crypto, rather than fiat currency, as a form of payment.
The project hasn't panned out, with adoption among the country's population still minuscule. But Bukele has nonetheless taken a victory lap, posting "I told you so" on X earlier this week.
I told you so.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) November 11, 2024
The millennial president has had a dramatic tenure as the head of the country, implementing a strong-handed security program to reduce crime while facing external criticism of autocratic behavior from human rights groups. He has still enjoyed overwhelming support in El Salvador, with his approval rating hovering around 90%. Bukele frequently receives praise from right-wing figures in the U.S., including Tucker Carlson and Doland Trump Jr.
Bhutan's Bitcoin embrace has flown more under the radar, though its holdings appear to be twice that of El Salvador's. Bhutan began venturing into Bitcoin mining in April 2019, with the country's sovereign investment arm Druk Holding & Investments confirming to a local newspaper that it had entered the space. It has powered its operations with the country's hydroelectric resources. Druk's investments into digital assets through failed platforms including BlockFi and Celsius were revealed in bankruptcy documents, according to reporting from Forbes.
In September, Arkham began tracking the purported wallets associated with Druk, which currently hold more than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin, as well as smaller sums of other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum.
