The Kingdom of Bhutan made waves within the blockchain world this week, asserting its determination emigrate its nationwide digital identification system from Polygon to Ethereum. The transfer, scheduled for completion by Q1 2026, positions the Himalayan nation as a pioneer in leveraging public blockchain infrastructure for sovereign id administration.
With Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum Basis president Aya Miyaguchi attending the launch ceremony, the importance extends past a easy technical migration. As Miyaguchi acknowledged in a publish on X, Bhutan turns into “the primary nation to anchor its nationwide digital identification system on Ethereum,” marking a watershed second for blockchain adoption on the nationwide stage.
1/ As we speak, Bhutan celebrates a historic milestone, changing into the primary nation to anchor its nationwide digital id system on Ethereum. 🇧🇹@VitalikButerin and I have been honored to hitch the launch ceremony on behalf of the Ethereum neighborhood, graced by His Royal Highness. pic.twitter.com/KA4tOYbsJ4
— Aya Miyaguchi (@AyaMiyagotchi) October 13, 2025
Bhutan’s embrace of blockchain for id administration did not occur in a single day. The Nationwide Digital Identity (NDI) system was first launched in 2023, when His Royal Highness The Gyalsey of Bhutan grew to become the nation’s first digital citizen. Initially constructed on Hyperledger, the system transitioned to Polygon in August 2024, attracted by the community’s zero-knowledge protocols and scalability guarantees for dealing with excessive transaction volumes.
Now, lower than a 12 months later, Bhutan is making one other pivot to Ethereum. In accordance with GovTech Secretary Jigme Tenzing, the choice facilities on enhanced safety: “By transitioning to Ethereum, we additional strengthen the safety of our digital identification.”
The selection of Ethereum – the world’s second-largest blockchain by market capitalization and the dominant platform for decentralized purposes – indicators Bhutan’s long-term dedication to utilizing battle-tested, decentralized infrastructure for crucial nationwide techniques.
Understanding Self-Sovereign Identity
On the coronary heart of Bhutan’s NDI system lies the idea of self-sovereign id (SSI), a paradigm shift in how we take into consideration digital credentials. Not like conventional id techniques the place governments or companies management your information, SSI empowers people to personal and handle their very own digital identities.
In sensible phrases, this implies Bhutan’s practically 800,000 residents can retailer digital credentials like driver’s licenses, instructional certificates, and well being information in safe digital wallets they management. When accessing authorities companies or proving their id on-line, residents determine precisely what data to share and with whom, transmitting solely the required credentials somewhat than handing over complete private information.
SSI offers customers with larger autonomy over their private data, enabling them to regulate who can entry and use it, which provides increased ranges of privateness safety since information is now not managed by centralized establishments. The blockchain serves as an immutable report of credential issuance and verification, however crucially, the delicate private information itself is not saved on-chain. As a substitute, cryptographic proofs confirm the authenticity of credentials with out exposing underlying data.
This structure addresses a number of crucial vulnerabilities in conventional id techniques. Centralized databases create honeypots for hackers: breach a single system and compromise tens of millions of identities. The decentralized platform SSI allows customers to supply verifiers solely particular particulars by way of blockchain and verifiable credentials applied sciences, reducing id theft dangers whereas sustaining lively privateness tips.
Why Bhutan? A Small Nation with Large Digital Ambitions
Bhutan’s aggressive push into blockchain-based id administration might sound stunning for a small South Asian nation of fewer than a million folks, however a number of components make it uniquely positioned for this digital leap. Dimension turns into a bonus—with a compact inhabitants, Bhutan can implement and iterate on progressive techniques extra quickly than bigger nations burdened by legacy infrastructure and bureaucratic inertia.
Bhutan has demonstrated a willingness to embrace cryptocurrency and blockchain know-how in ways in which set it aside from most nations. Bhutan has been actively mining bitcoin utilizing its ample hydroelectric sources, turning its renewable vitality benefit into digital belongings. The nation additionally ranks sixth globally in Bitcoin reserves, holding 11,286 BTC valued at $1.28 billion, per Bitbo information, and 495.44 ETH, in response to StrategicETHReserve.
Bhutan’s governing philosophy of “Gross Nationwide Happiness” over GDP development creates area for experimentation with techniques that prioritize citizen empowerment and information sovereignty over pure financial effectivity – an SSI system aligns naturally with these values of particular person autonomy and trust-based governance. By establishing a nationwide blockchain id system, Bhutan additionally positions itself as a possible hub for blockchain innovation and testing in South Asia, with its NDI doubtlessly serving as a blueprint for different creating nations in search of to leapfrog conventional id infrastructure.
Bhutan’s selection of Ethereum over different blockchain platforms displays each pragmatic and philosophical concerns. As one of the vital decentralized blockchain networks with a whole lot of hundreds of validators worldwide, Ethereum provides safety that makes it terribly tough for any single entity to compromise id information. Its robust developer neighborhood help and institutional adoption offers the long-term stability that nationwide id techniques require. Constructing on Ethereum additionally opens interoperability potential with an enormous ecosystem of decentralized purposes, creating potentialities for future innovation in every little thing from decentralized finance to digital governance.
Maybe most significantly, as Miyaguchi articulated, “Bhutan’s transition displays what Ethereum was at all times designed for—empowering people with sovereignty over their very own information, fostering belief with out central factors of failure, and enabling inclusive digital techniques that serve folks first.” Whereas Polygon provides sooner transactions and decrease prices, Ethereum offers the bottom layer safety and decentralization that finally issues most when a nation is staking its id infrastructure on blockchain know-how.
The International Context
Bhutan is not alone in exploring blockchain for nationwide id techniques, although it might be the primary to commit totally to a public blockchain like Ethereum for this objective.
Brazil’s 214 million+ residents are anticipated to make use of blockchain technology for digital identity, with Rio de Janeiro, Goiás and Paraná being the primary states to problem identification paperwork on-chain. Brazil’s authorities launched a blockchain community to strengthen the safety of knowledge sharing between the Federal Income Service and civil identification companies, serving as the muse for the income service’s operations.
Brazil’s strategy, nonetheless, differs from Bhutan’s in scale and implementation. Whereas Bhutan is transitioning to a completely public blockchain (Ethereum), Brazil’s system seems extra targeted on inter-agency information sharing and will make the most of extra permissioned blockchain architectures.
Vietnam has launched a national blockchain for digital identity and records known as NDAChain, which has 49 validator nodes overseen by a mixture of public companies and main companies, designed to serve each authorities and companies. NDAKey allows residents to confirm in real-time claims about their identities, an essential part of Vietnam’s battle in opposition to fraud, impersonation and scams because the nation’s financial system turns into more and more digitized.
Vietnam’s comprehensive National Blockchain Strategy, established in October 2024, goals to create 20 main blockchain platforms and place the nation amongst Asia’s high 10 in blockchain analysis. This represents a extra systematic, government-directed strategy in comparison with Bhutan’s targeted id initiative.
A Digital Future “That Serves Folks First”
Regardless of these challenges, Bhutan’s dedication to blockchain-based id administration represents a reimagining of the connection between residents and their authorities within the digital age.
As extra features of our lives transfer on-line, from healthcare to finance to training, the query of who controls our digital identities turns into more and more crucial. Bhutan’s reply prioritizes particular person sovereignty, safety by way of decentralization, and transparency by way of open blockchain infrastructure.
Whether or not different nations observe Bhutan’s lead stays to be seen. However because the world watches this small Himalayan kingdom implement one of the vital superior nationwide id techniques ever conceived, one factor is obvious: the way forward for digital id is being written on the blockchain, one citizen at a time.
For Bhutan’s 800,000 residents, that future begins with Ethereum in early 2026.
Elsewhere
Nigel Farage Courts UK Crypto Industry with Trump-Style Pitch for Bitcoin Reserve
Reform UK leader proposes national bitcoin fund and 10% crypto tax as party leads polls ahead of 2029 election
Citigroup Aims to Offer Institutional Custody by 2026 Following Multi-Year Development Effort
Bank to roll out custody solution as favorable U.S. regulatory environment spurs traditional finance entry
Hong Kong Fintech Reap Secures Singapore Payment License, Plans 50% Hiring Increase
Blockchain-enabled business payments provider gains Major Payment Institution status as Singapore operations become Southeast Asia hub
BTC Slides to $112k as ETF Outflows and Gold Rally Re-Price Risk
Your daily access to the backroom
Podcast
Trends, Tokenization & Treasuries: Cardano’s Frederik Gregaard Talks Enterprise Adoption
On the town for Token2049, Fredrick Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Basis, joined host Takatoshi Shibayama within the studio to debate the evolution of the crypto area, highlighting how Cardano is maturing right into a decentralized crucial infrastructure layer, designed to help a variety of purposes past easy worth switch.
We’re a media accomplice for the upcoming Singapore Fintech Competition! Use the promo code SFFSMPBH for 20% off all delegate passes at this link!
