The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has become the first nation to anchor a live, population-scale digital identity system on a public blockchain network, integrating its National Digital Identity (NDI) platform with the Ethereum blockchain, Decrypt said in news report.
This landmark transition allows Bhutan’s NDI platform to issue verifiable credentials and link decentralized identifiers directly to Ethereum’s validator network. The move is designed to fundamentally change how citizens manage their personal data, enabling them to cryptographically prove attributes like age or citizenship without relying on vulnerable, centralized government databases.
The full migration of the system is slated for completion by early 2026.
The NDI program, launched in 2023, initially employed W3C identity standards and partnered with Input Output Global (IOG), the developer of the Cardano blockchain, for its early testing phase. The national rollout was symbolically marked when Bhutan’s crown prince, Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, became the country’s first digital citizen.
This latest move to Ethereum signifies a pivotal shift in the kingdom’s approach to its national digital infrastructure, a strategy spearheaded by its sovereign wealth arm, Druk Holding & Investments (DHI). Through DHI, Bhutan has become a quiet leader in national-scale blockchain adoption, also developing projects in Bitcoin mining and digital asset management.
