Bhutan on the way to zero BTC by September with latest 100 BTC selloff

Bhutan has moved 100 BTC worth $8.1 million out of its holding wallets, continuing a steady liquidation that blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence says will empty the country’s entire Bitcoin reserve before the end of September.

Since the start of 2026, the Himalayan kingdom has now sold $230.39 million worth of Bitcoin, while it currently holds $252 million worth of the cryptocurrency. It is reportedly selling at an average pace of about $50 million per month, a pace that will clear its remaining stash in five months.

A sovereign seller in slow motion

According to reports, Bhutan has been offloading BTC in measured tranches throughout the year, often routing coins through Singapore-based trading firm QCP Capital. In March alone, the government moved over $120 million in Bitcoin across multiple transactions, including a single 519.7 BTC transfer valued at $36.75 million.

Its reserve peaked at 13,295 BTC in October 2024. Druk Holding and Investments is the state-owned investment arm that manages Bhutan’s digital assets, and it has not published any timelines for how it will offload its BTC holdings or if it has any intentions of emptying the treasury.

Bhutan routes investments into Gelephu Mindfulness City

In December 2025, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck announced the allocation of up to 10,000 BTC (then worth approximately $1 billion) toward Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), a special administrative and economic zone under development in southern Bhutan.

The king stated that the commitment was “for our people, our youth, and our nation” during his National Day address.

At the time, officials said deployment would be gradual and governed by “strict oversight, transparency, and prudence,” with options including using Bitcoin as collateral or deploying treasury yield strategies.

As of today, May 12, GMC is now making moves to bring firms into the country, having launched an accelerated licensing pathway for firms that are already regulated in major financial centers, including Singapore, Abu Dhabi Global Market, and Hong Kong.

The program brings together regulatory approval and banking, as companies that incorporate and receive a license in GMC are also granted a corporate account with DK Bank.

DK Bank supports multi-currency accounts across nine currencies, digital asset services including BTC-backed lending, and integrated fiat-to-crypto on- and off-ramps, with banking fees fully waived for at least the first six months.

GMC’s latest framework also comes with incentives such as 0% corporate tax for qualifying investments, no capital gains or dividend tax, foreign talent tax exemptions through 2030, and common law structures modeled on Singapore and ADGM principles.

Mining slowed, costs doubled

Bhutan began mining Bitcoin in 2019 using surplus hydroelectric power generated by its glacier-fed rivers. The operation was run through Druk Holding and Investments, and at its peak, helped the small nation of 750,000 accumulate one of the largest sovereign BTC positions in the world.

However, the April 2024 block reward halving doubled the cost of producing each coin. Bhutan’s mining output experienced a significant drop when compared to 2023, a period when the country mined an estimated 8,200 BTC. The last on-chain deposit exceeding $100,000 into wallets in Bhutan occurred more than 12 months ago, raising questions about how active its mining operations are currently.

Bhutan is not the only miner that has seen revenue drop while operational costs continue to rise. Publicly traded miners, the latest being DMG Blockchain Solutions, Bitdeer, and MARA Holdings, have all disclosed selling mined BTC to fund operations or pivots into AI infrastructure, according to recent quarterly filings.

The economics that made hydro-powered mining profitable for Bhutan have changed, and it is no longer sustainable. The same economics have also pushed commercial miners to rethink their business models.

Arkham projects that Bhutan would exhaust all its BTC holdings by the third quarter of 2026 if it sells all its current BTC holdings at $50 million per month. The country could exit the market with around $767 million in total on-chain profit if it sells all remaining holdings near the current BTC price of approximately $81,000.

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