Uncategorized

Bhutan’s Crypto Reserve Could Pave Way for Economic Growth in Other Countries

Published

5 месяцев ago

10 января, 2025

admin

Bhutan, a small country in South Asia, is making big waves in the crypto world.

The Kingdom, which populates roughly 770,000 people and lies between India, China and Nepal, just made headlines after one of its cities adopted a crypto reserve strategy. This includes bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and Binance’s BNB token (BNB).

El Salvador has previously made bitcoin part of the country’s national reserve and several other countries, including the United States, are considering taking similar measures to strengthen its already robust economy.

But Bhutan could set an example for smaller countries, where making crypto part of their national reserve strategy could have an enormous economic impact.

“They are coming out guns loaded to show the world what’s possible in the digital asset space by bringing in foreign companies to help take advantage of the growing global interest in crypto as a whole,” said Phillip Shoemaker, executive director of Identity.com, a non-profit organization providing decentralized identity verification.

“I see this move as potentially triggering similar actions among other governments around the world, especially in smaller countries that are subject to the whims of foreign-exchange volatility and geo-political uncertainty,” he said.

According to a report by the World Bank in May this year, although Bhutan does have a fairly robust economy, downside risks persist as the country’s fiscal deficit is expected to widen. To ensure economic growth, it needs to attract more foreign investments, the report suggested.

Bhutan listened and acted by creating Gelephu Mindfulness City, the region that is adopting crypto as part of its goal of “mindfulness, sustainability, and innovation.”

“The special economic zone being created helps to attract foreign investment, so its accumulation of digital assets more generally could be really compelling at the international level,” Shoemaker said.

Bhutan was already well positioned for this move. The country has an estimated 24,000 megawatts of technically feasible hydropower potential, of which it has so far only developed about 7%.

“It gets so much electricity from hydro sources, after all, and it makes sense for them to lean into the mining aspect of it,” said Shoemaker.

Bitcoin mining requires enormous energy which has sparked concerns about the negative environmental impact of crypto mining. However, use of hydropower solves that problem as it is much more cost efficient and reduces miners’ carbon footprint.

In April 2019, the country started using its massive amounts of hydropower to start mining bitcoin, according to an article by Forbes. Today, the country owns over 11,000 bitcoin, worth roughly $1.1 billion, according to data on Arkham. This puts Bhutan among the top five countries to hold bitcoin in its reserves, according to BitcoinTreasuries data.

“Bitcoin mining, in particular, is such a good tool for leveraging various forms of renewable and stranded energy,” said Jagdeep Sidhu, Core Developer at Syscoin and President of the Syscoin Foundation. “I imagine that other governments are increasingly looking at Bhutan as an example of how to launch their own Bitcoin reserves, especially countries that have abundant sources of energy that could otherwise be wasted.”

Uncategorized

UK’s FCA Seeks Views on Stablecoins, Crypto Custody to Prevent Firm Failures

Published

2 часа ago

28 мая, 2025

admin

The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking additional views on its upcoming stablecoins regime, it said on Wednesday.

«In support of the opportunities stablecoins present to financial services and the broader economy, the FCA will explore adding a specific focus on stablecoins to its innovation services in the coming months,» the FCA’s statement said.

The FCA’s proposed rules are meant to ensure stablecoins maintain their value and seek to reduce the likelihood of stablecoin and crypto custody companies failing.

Stablecoins have been something regulators have been watching carefully following the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD in 2022 that resulted in investors losing out on their life savings.

The FCA has been establishing its new crypto regime since 2023. In 2023 it published a discussion paper with proposals for a stablecoins regime. The regulator has since upped its efforts to regulate the sector by releasing a series of discussion papers for the industry and the U.K. government is working on establishing new legislation to ensure the country’s regulators have all the powers they need to launch their new regimes for the digital asset sector.

The FCA will be working with the Bank of England to regulate stablecoins.

«For those stablecoins that expect to operate at systemic scale, the Bank of England will publish a complementary consultation paper later this year, including responding to industry feedback around allowing some return on backing assets,» Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England said.

Uncategorized

Bitcoin and Web3 Wallet Firm Ledger Brings ‘Crypto Life’ Visa Card to U.S. Users

Published

2 часа ago

28 мая, 2025

admin

Cryptocurrency hardware wallet firm Ledger has launched its Crypto Life (CL) Visa card in the U.S., offering users 1% cashback in bitcoin (BTC) or USDC on purchases and the ability to directly deposit paychecks into the on-chain card account via bank transfer.

Ledger’s CL Visa card is facilitated by fiat-to-on-chain card enabler Baanx, which also provides self-custody crypto cards for the likes of MetaMask, Tools for Humanity and most recently wallet firm Exodus.

Big card networks Mastercard and Visa are aligning themselves with the self-custodial crypto world and the rapid growth in areas like stablecoin payments. Data on CL card usage shows household purchases dominated crypto card usage at 63% of total transactions, with entertainment and fashion categories showing the strongest growth.

Jean-Francois Rochet, EVP of Consumer Services at Ledger, said the collaboration brings the CL card to millions of users in the U.S. with attractive cashback features for bitcoin holders. “Living the crypto life means having ownership, access and real world utility over your digital assets,” he said in a statement.

“The CL Card, designed for Ledger, is a step toward mainstream, non-custodial crypto payments—right in your pocket”, said Simon Jones, Chief Commercial Officer of Baanx.

The CL Card will be available in the U.S. (excluding New York and Vermont) on June 30, 2025.

Uncategorized

VivoPower Raises $121M to Launch XRP Treasury Strategy With Saudi Royal Backing

Published

2 часа ago

28 мая, 2025

admin

VivoPower International (VVPR), a Nasdaq-listed energy company, said on Wednesday it has secured $121 million in a private share placement to fund its pivot to digital asset treasury focusing on XRP XRP, the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

The raise was led by Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Abdulaziz Al Saud, investing $100 million, a spokesperson to the company told CoinDesk. The company sold 20 million ordinary shares priced at $6.05 per share.

Adam Traidman, a former Ripple executive who led the SBI Ripple Asia, is joining the company as chairman of the board of advisors, according to the press release. Ripple is an enterprise-focused blockchain service provider closely related to the XRP Ledger.

VivoPower shares surged as much as 26% on the news before giving back some of the gains. Recently, they were up over 11%, trading around $6.75.

The move is the latest example of public firms raising money to purchase and add digital assets to their treasuries, a playbook popularized by Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) that has become the largest corporate holder of bitcoin BTC. While BTC has been the most sought-after asset among these firms, recent newcomers like DeFi Development and SharpLink Gaming directed their focus to Solana’s SOL SOL and Ethereum’s ether ETH, respectively.

VivoPower, founded in 2014, aims to be the first publicly traded company with a crypto treasury strategy centered around XRP. It also plans to spin off its legacy business.

«After reviewing a number of listed vehicles seeking to embrace a digital asset treasury model, we selected VivoPower given its strategic focus on XRP and its objective to contribute to building out of the XRPL ecosystem,» Prince Abdulaziz said in a statement. «We have been investors in the digital asset sector for a decade and have been long-term holders of XRP.»