// methodology and sources

The numbers.

Every figure on AlbertaBitcoin.com is from a primary source: Statistics Canada, Alberta Treasury Board and Finance audited reports, mainstream Canadian news outlets, and live cryptocurrency exchange APIs. No estimates, no projections, no models — just published data and arithmetic.

Net fiscal outflow

The headline number — Alberta's $231 billion net contribution to Canada over fifteen years — is published by Statistics Canada. We do not adjust it, smooth it, or project it.

Definition: federal general government revenue collected from Alberta minus federal general government expenditure in Alberta, in current dollars, summed across calendar years 2010 through 2024.

2020 anomaly: COVID-19 emergency transfers created a net inflow of approximately $16.9 billion in 2020 — the only year in the dataset where Ottawa spent more in Alberta than it collected. Included as-reported. The 15-year net is still $231 billion in Alberta's favour.

The live counter on the homepage extrapolates the 2010–2024 average outflow rate forward at approximately $602 per second to the current moment.

Heritage Fund AUM

Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund assets under management as of December 31, 2024: $31.9 billion (market value).

Source: audited annual reports from Alberta Treasury Board and Finance. Historical AUM values from FY-end reports for each year 2010–2024. All figures are market value at fiscal year end.

Bitcoin DCA scenarios

Each scenario simulates a dollar-cost-averaging Bitcoin allocation against the historical net fiscal outflow. The math:

• True Pioneer (Jan 2013, 0.05%): 0.05% of each year's net fiscal outflow, divided by 12, purchased monthly at that month's historical BTC/CAD price. Starting January 2013 — before any government on earth held Bitcoin.
• Bhutan Benchmark (Apr 2019, 0.5%): 0.5% allocation, same DCA mechanic, starting the month Bhutan's state investment arm began acquiring Bitcoin.
• El Salvador (Sep 2021, 2.2%): 2.2% allocation, same mechanic, starting the month El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.
• MicroStrategy (Aug 2020): One-time $217M purchase — equivalent to 1% of Heritage Fund AUM at the time — at August 2020 BTC/CAD prices, matching the month MicroStrategy announced its first treasury allocation.

No compounding, no fees, no slippage modeled. Historical BTC/CAD prices are monthly closing prices.

BTC/CAD price data

Historical BTC/CAD: monthly closing prices 2010–2024, sourced from public cryptocurrency exchange APIs. Live BTC/CAD: real-time quote from Kraken (XBT/CAD pair), with blockchain.info as fallback. The "Value today" figures on every spending card update to the live price.

Tax-relief benchmarks

The "Or skipped these taxes" lines on each spending card use Alberta provincial revenue figures from the 2024-25 fiscal plan and population from Statistics Canada:

• Personal income tax revenue: $15.6 billion (2024 forecast)
• Corporate income tax revenue: $7.3 billion (2024 forecast)
• Provincial fuel tax revenue: $1.5 billion
• Education property tax revenue: $2.7 billion
• Heritage Fund AUM: $31.9 billion
• Alberta population: 4.85 million

Bitcoin Budget — government spending decisions

Each card in the Bitcoin Budget section represents a specific, sourced, documented government spending decision. The card links to its primary news source. The Bitcoin equivalent is computed using the BTC/CAD price at the month of the spending decision.

Primary sources

Fiscal data

• Statistics Canada Table 36-10-0450-01: Revenue, expenditure and budgetary balance, general governments, provincial and territorial economic accounts.Annual data 1981–present. Federal revenue and expenditure rows by province.
• Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund: Annual reports and AUM history.Treasury Board and Finance, Government of Alberta.
• Alberta revenue overview: Provincial tax revenue by category.Source for the tax-relief benchmark calculations.
• Budget 2024 Fiscal Plan 2024-27 (PDF): Personal income tax, corporate tax, and other revenue line items.

Spending decisions

• CBC: Peace Bridge placed over Bow River (Nov 2011)$24.5M Calgary pedestrian bridge by Santiago Calatrava.
• CBC: Mayor calls $470K blue ring billed as public art 'awful' (Oct 2013)"Travelling Light" — the Big Blue Ring on the 96 Ave NE bridge.
• CBC: Premier Alison Redford repays $45K cost of South Africa trip (Mar 2014)Mandela memorial trip on the government jet.
• CBC: Alberta's energy 'war room' launches in Calgary (Dec 2019)Canadian Energy Centre, initial $30M annual budget.
• CBC: Kenney announces offloading crude-by-rail contracts (Feb 2020)$1.3B–$1.5B cost to taxpayers exiting Notley's rail deal.
• CBC: Keystone XL is dead, and Albertans are on the hook for $1.3B (Jun 2021)Final cost of the cancelled pipeline equity stake.
• CBC: City council votes to wind down Green Line LRT with costs totalling $2.1B (Sep 2024)$1.3B already spent + $850M wind-down = $2.153B sunk cost.
• CBC: As Calgary mulls arena deal, key players consider if Edmonton's Rogers Place delivered (Jul 2019)City of Edmonton public contribution: $312M of total $613M arena.
• CBC: Edmonton set to build $100M in bike lanes (Dec 2022)2023-26 capital budget bike lane allocation.

Bitcoin price

• Kraken XBT/CAD ticker: Live BTC/CAD spot price.Primary live price source. Public REST API, no auth required.
• Blockchain.info ticker: BTC/CAD live price.Fallback if Kraken request fails.

Population

• Statistics Canada Table 17-10-0009-01: Population estimates, quarterly.Alberta population 4.85M, Q3 2024.