Bhutan’s Crypto Gamble: Binance Brings Bitcoin to the Mountains 🎢

by

In the shadow of the high Himalayas, where prayer flags flutter like bedraggled angels and the mountain wind carries secrets older than money, Bhutan has tossed its lot in with a peculiar dance partner—Binance Pay. And not just Binance Pay, but also DK Bank, which, it must be said, is not a typo for Donkey Kong Bank, but the real digital thing. 📱🪙

They’re calling it a “world’s first”: the doughty Kingdom of Bhutan allows plucky travelers to roam through its valleys and monasteries, waving crypto wallets like modern Marco Polos. You crave a momo at a roadside shack? Pay in Bitcoin! You want a hotel room with a view of a cloud-wrapped dzong? USDC, thank you very much! Airlines, guides, monument tickets—the only golden rule is: “If you can scan it, you can pay for it.” If you’re out of luck, maybe try bartering with an NFT of yak cheese.

More than a hundred local merchants have joined up—there may be a butcher, a baker, and almost certainly a hoteliers’ collective counting Satoshis when no one is looking. Which ones? Ah, that mystery is left to the traveler. The trick is simple: you pay in crypto, the innkeeper receives trusty old Bhutanese ngultrum. DK Bank—the wizard behind the curtain—handles the magic arithmetic, probably while the monks chant for a stable exchange rate. 🔮

Richard Teng, Binance’s grand helmsman, declared with a grin that his exchange “is setting a precedent for how technology can bridge cultures and economies.” Which, if history is any teacher, is what every bridge builder says before the trolls move in under the arches.

Meanwhile, Bhutan’s prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, having caught the scent of “strategic choice” and “billions of dollars,” jumped into state-backed Bitcoin mining with enthusiasm so boundless you’d think the valleys were paved with GPUs. The country faces its own storms—youth who’d rather dig digital gold than farm potatoes, workers vanishing overseas faster than tax receipts, and an economy that, some speculate, could stuff thirty percent of its GDP into a single digital wallet behind a password like “drukpa123.”

How much Bitcoin does Bhutan really have? No one can say. The data men with blockchains and calculators hint at $600 million. Or perhaps the number is as elusive as the legendary yeti—seen by some, believed by many, and always just beyond the next hill.

Read More

2025-05-07 10:21