In Bhutan, bitcoin reserves are already common currency - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
Web3与加密金融

In Bhutan, bitcoin reserves are already common currency

Sovereign bitcoin reserves are a relatively small phenomenon but are probably here to stay

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. Bhutan, a tiny kingdom so esoteric it measures happiness the way more humdrum counties measure economic output, holds the fifth biggest national bitcoin stash.

Countries come by their tokens in different ways. Crime kick-started Washington’s booty. 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. Forfeits from crime also explain the UK’s 61,000-odd bitcoin, as of the end of December.

Bhutan’s haul derives from a more wholesome source. The Himalayan kingdom mines its own coins, harnessing rivers to power the computers. There is a nice circularity to this. Exporting hydropower would be expensive and inevitably require new infrastructure, not all of which would necessarily be aesthetically pleasing. So instead Bhutan monetises the energy — turning gigawatts into money — by mining bitcoin at home. That’s helpful for a country with few wealth-generating levers at its disposal; it imports nearly everything and manufacturing is a non-starter.

Britain’s holding is around five times the size of Bhutan’s, but much smaller relative to the economy. Even at bitcoin’s peak it wouldn’t cover a fortnight’s funding for the health service.

Sovereigns talk up the inflationary hedge aspect of this “digital gold”. Like gold, its scarcity value theoretically protects it from inflationary pressures — although in practice bitcoin has proved too volatile to make the case.

But there are obvious risks to states holding chunks of a highly volatile asset backed by nothing more than lines of code. Current kitty sizes may not be enough to raise hackles, but recent months have highlighted yet again just how wild this ride can be. 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.

Buyers in the wake of the coin’s Trump bump include Saudi Arabia, traders reckon. El Salvador, undeterred by the strings attached to a pending IMF bailout, continued to buy bitcoin last month.

China may, or may not, have a kitty not far short of Washington’s. 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. True, the token is banned in the People’s Republic, but exceptions can always be made.

Sovereign bitcoin reserves are a relatively small phenomenon but they are probably here to stay. One reason is that old-school currency reserves are also becoming riskier. See, for instance, speculation that the US might pursue a so-called Mar-a-Lago accord to weaken the dollar. Should a new monetary system come about, that might just create a space for an alternative like bitcoin.

louise.lucas@ft.com

虚拟货币相关活动存在较大法律风险。请根据监管规范,注意甄别和远离非法金融活动,谨防个人财产和权益受损。
版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

乌克兰停火:弗拉基米尔•普京的意图是什么?

莫斯科几乎没有理由停止战斗,除非它通过其他手段实现自己的目标。

从大胆入侵到迅速撤退:乌克兰库尔斯克赌局的终结

一名在占领的俄罗斯地区驻扎了七个月的乌克兰士兵说,“我们的麻烦早在很久之前就开始了。”

苏杰生:“旧世界秩序的优点被夸大了”

印度外长谈印度与俄罗斯的持久纽带、与交易型特朗普打交道以及不可预测性的优点。

欧盟将4名俄罗斯国民从制裁名单中移除

这一决定是在匈牙利威胁阻止对因乌克兰战争而被制裁的2000多人实施限制之后做出的。

美国参议院通过临时拨款法案以避免政府停摆

由查克•舒默领导的民主党为通过共和党的提案铺平了道路。

七国集团警告俄罗斯,除非支持停火,否则将扩大制裁

鲁比奥与其他国家的外交部长一道,寻求加大对弗拉基米尔•普京的压力。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×