Bhutan Denies Report It Sold Large Amounts of Bitcoin
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Bhutan’s government has denied speculation that it has been selling Bitcoin on a large scale, even as on-chain data showed about $1 billion worth of the cryptocurrency leaving wallets linked to the country.
Data from Arkham Intelligence on May 15 showed that Druk Holding & Investments, Bhutan’s sovereign wealth fund, has sold about $1 billion of Bitcoin since July last year. Arkham estimated Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings dropped from about 13,000 tokens in October 2024 to roughly 3,100 now.
Arkham also said Bitcoin worth $207 million has moved this year alone from wallets believed to be owned by DHI to global exchanges and trading firms. Moving funds to exchanges or over-the-counter firms effectively amounts to selling, it said, adding that Bhutan’s Bitcoin holdings would be exhausted by October at the current pace.
The Bhutanese government rejected that interpretation. Ujjwal Deep Dahal, chief executive officer of DHI, told CoinDesk he could not even remember the last time the fund sold Bitcoin, strongly denying the claim. He did not provide details on transfers from specific wallets or on Bhutan’s exact current Bitcoin holdings.
Some in the industry say wallet transfers do not necessarily indicate a sale. The assets could have been moved to a custodian, posted as collateral for loans, or tied to a specialized over-the-counter agreement. A representative of a trading firm said to have received transfers of Bhutan’s Bitcoin also said there had been no recent sale transactions.
Bhutan also denied reports earlier this year that it had halted mining. Dahal said heavy rainfall has kept hydropower plants running strongly this year. He added that Bhutan is maintaining its competitiveness by deploying the latest mining machines powered entirely by clean energy.
