Bhutan has sold more than $110 million worth of Bitcoin in 2026, reducing sovereign holdings by about 65% from their peak as Druk Holding shifts from mining-driven accumulation to steady liquidation.
Summary
- Druk Holding & Investments has dumped more than $110 million worth of BTC this year, including a transfer of 973 BTC worth about $72.3 million on March 17-18, routed in part through QCP Capital and Binance.
- Bhutan’s stash has dropped from around 13,000 BTC (over $1.4 billion and 40% of GDP at its peak) to around 5,400 BTC worth around $374 million, with no inflows over $100,000 in over a year, implying mining has largely stopped.
- The kingdom’s methodical $5-10 million clip sales, based on hydropower-financed mining since 2019, now act as a recurring sovereign surplus for Bitcoin just as macroeconomic conditions and sentiment remain fragile.
The Kingdom of Bhutan has quietly become one of the most closely watched sovereign Bitcoin sellers in 2026, and its state investment arm has dumped more than $110 million worth of BTC since the start of the year, a systematic drawdown that has reduced its holdings by 65% from its peak and raised questions about the future of one of cryptocurrencies’ most unlikely national success stories.
The most recent and largest transaction occurred on March 17 and 18, when Druk Holding & Investments, the sovereign wealth fund that manages Bhutan’s digital asset reserves, transferred 973 BTC worth approximately $72.3 million across multiple addresses. Among the recipients was QCP Capital, a Singapore-based institutional trading firm, which indicated structured OTC sales designed to minimize market impact rather than dumping on open exchanges. A portion also went to Binance active wallets.
Bhutan’s Bitcoin journey began in 2019, when the country began quietly mining BTC using surplus hydropower from its Himalayan rivers, a near-zero marginal cost energy source that made mining highly profitable even at modest price levels. At its peak, Bhutan held approximately 13,000 BTC, valued at more than $1.4 billion, a sum that represented more than 40% of the country’s entire gross domestic product at the time. Those holdings have since contracted to approximately 5,400 BTC, worth around $374 million at current prices.
A critical detail pointed out by on-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence adds a new dimension to the story: Bhutan has not recorded a Bitcoin inflow of more than $100,000 in over a year. This strongly suggests that the country has stopped or severely restricted its mining operations, moving from a build-and-hold strategy to a pure liquidation strategy. The reasons remain unofficially confirmed, but analysts have pointed to declining mining profitability following the April 2024 halving, rising operating costs and competing demands on the country’s hydroelectric infrastructure.
The sales pattern has been more methodical than reactive. Bhutan It typically transacts in clips of between $5 million and $10 million, with occasional larger tranches when market conditions are favorable. This week’s $72.3 million move is an outlier, suggesting either an acceleration of the tapering schedule or an opportunistic decision to price near the $71,000 level before further deterioration.
For the broader market, the sustained presence of sovereign-scale sales in these volumes is a non-trivial obstacle. Unlike sale of retail or even institutional, sovereign funds liquidations They tend to be price-insensitive and recurring, characteristics that can create persistent maximum pressure on any recovery attempt. As Bitcoin navigates a fragile macroeconomic environment with fear sentiment elevated and ETF flows recently reversing, Bhutan’s quiet but relentless selling is one more structural force for bulls to absorb on the way back to new highs.
