Bhutan Has Sold 58% of Its Bitcoin After Moving Another $11.8M in BTC
Bhutan has been selling Bitcoin quietly and consistently since late 2024, and Monday’s transfer was more of the same. Arkham Intelligence, the blockchain analytics firm, flagged the movement of 175 BTC, worth $11.85 million, from Bhutan’s primary holding address to a wallet created roughly a month ago.
The same wallet had previously received 184 BTC from the government in February, a pattern that points to a recurring over-the-counter (OTC) trading counterparty or structured liquidity arrangement rather than routine treasury management between internal addresses.
Arkham noted that the last time Bhutan made a similarly sized move, in February, the funds were sold to Singapore-based trading firm QCP Capital. Its February activity was more extensive: four separate transfers that month, including two direct sends to QCP Capital’s merchant deposit address totaling roughly 200 BTC, brought February outflows alone to approximately $30.7 million.
Druk Holding and Investments, Bhutan’s state-owned sovereign wealth fund which has managed the kingdom’s Bitcoin reserves since its mining program began in 2019. Arkham describes Bhutan’s selling pattern as periodic “clips of $5–10 million,” with a notably heavier burst in mid-to-late September 2025.
Monday’s $11.85 million transfer, added to approximately $30.7 million in February activity, brings the 2026 running total to roughly $42.5 million. For comparison, Bhutan moved more than $60 million in Bitcoin over just four days last July when the coin was trading near $119,000.
The Stack Is Getting Smaller, Faster
The full picture of Bhutan’s Bitcoin position is worth pausing on. The kingdom began accumulating BTC in 2019 through a state-backed hydroelectric mining program, building its position over several years at an effective cost basis close to zero. Bhutan generates surplus hydropower during summer months and deployed that excess energy toward mining rather than wasting it.
By late 2024, Druk Holding and Investments held approximately 13,000 BTC, a position then worth over $1.5 billion and equivalent to more than 40% of Bhutan’s GDP.
Since that peak, the drawdown has been steep: selling reduced the coin count from 13,000 to roughly 5,400, and Bitcoin’s own price decline from $119,000 to around $69,000 has compressed the dollar value of whatever remains. A position once likely worth $1.5 billion is now $371 million, hit from both sides simultaneously.
In December 2025, Bhutan announced a Bitcoin Development Pledge committing up to 10,000 BTC to fund Gelephu Mindfulness City, a special economic zone the government is building with digital asset reserves at its financial core.
That pledge sits alongside the continued selling pattern in a way that is not necessarily contradictory, Bhutan may be using proceeds from near-term sales to fund current expenditure, including public salaries, healthcare, and environmental programs, while preserving a long-term strategic allocation for the Gelephu project.
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said last year that Bitcoin proceeds have been used directly to fund government services. What the government has not said is where the floor is, how much it plans to hold versus sell, and over what timeline.
The transfers to the same counterparties in consistent sizes suggest a planned drawdown rather than reactive selling. But at the current pace, the remaining 5,400 BTC will not last indefinitely.
