The South Asian country of Bhutan is migrating its autonomous identity system from Polygon to Ethereum, enabling its nearly 800,000 residents to verify their identities and access government services.
The integration with Ethereum has been completed, and the migration of all resident credentials is expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2026. Aya Miyaguchi, chair of the Ethereum Foundation, attended the launch ceremony alongside Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, and Crown Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuk.
"It is deeply inspiring to see a country committed to providing autonomous identity verification for its citizens," Miyaguchi posted on X on Monday, adding that the integration with Ethereum is a world first.
Integrating blockchain-based solutions into government national ID systems has long been hailed as a promising cryptocurrency use case due to its immutability, transparency, and privacy features, especially when implementing zero-knowledge proofs.
Bhutan previously operated its national ID system on Polygon starting in August 2024, after using Hyperledger Indy. Brazil and Vietnam are among the few countries that have partially integrated blockchain-based autonomous identity solutions so far.
Miyaguchi noted that Bhutan's national digital identity and government technology teams played a key role in the Ethereum integration, with contributions from other members of Bhutan's cryptocurrency community.
Bhutan—a country that measures national progress by Gross National Happiness—has quietly become a leader in cryptocurrency adoption in recent years. It is currently the fifth-largest holder of Bitcoin, having accumulated these holdings by mining with renewable energy at hydropower stations in the Himalayas.
According to BitBo's Bitcoin treasury data, it currently holds 11,286 Bitcoins, valued at $1.31 billion, trailing only the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine.
Bhutan may also be exploring other cryptocurrency initiatives, having met with former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in late September—though the details of their discussion have not been disclosed.
Pay in #BNB using @Binance Pay in Bhutan🇧🇹, nice and easy. 😏 pic.twitter.com/B5p3YolJjJ
Related: The U.S. government shutdown enters its third week, as cryptocurrency ETF "gate" awaits to open.
Original: “Bhutan Migrates National ID System to Ethereum”
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