Bhutan's blockchain-based National Digital Identity, launched in 2023, had enrolled over 70% of the population by 2025, though the government describes its AI use as still narrow, with no independent security audit found.
70+ %
Population with biometric enrolment (2025)
230,000+
Active platform users
Details
Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Department of Civil Registration and Census / Bhutan NDI Programme
Period
2023-ongoing
Keywords
digital identity, biometrics, blockchain, self-sovereign identity
Context
Bhutan's National Digital Identity (NDI), piloted February 2023 and launched nationally October 2023, is a self-sovereign digital identity system built on Hyperledger Indy (migrated to Polygon in 2024) using facial biometric matching.
Results
By 2025, more than 70% of Bhutan's population had completed biometric enrolment with over 230,000 active users; the programme states biometric images are not permanently stored, though no independent security audit was found, and its use of AI remains narrow — largely facial liveness/matching — with a broader AI layer still in early planning.
Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Department of Civil Registration and Census
Conditions for success
Privacy-by-design architecture (biometric images not permanently stored)
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
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Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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