The Royal Government of Bhutan is suspected of selling roughly 700 BTC, worth about $50M, after on-chain data from Onchain Lens and Arkham Intelligence flagged two large transfers from wallets attributed to its sovereign investment arm, Druk Holding & Investments (DHI).

One transaction sent 325 BTC, or about $25.19M at recent prices, to a wallet previously linked to crypto financial services firm Galaxy Digital, while a separate 375 BTC, worth about $25.18M, was routed to an unidentified address that analysts believe could be an OTC desk or new custodian. Combined with earlier March transfers, Yahoo Finance reported that “Bhutan sold over $84 million’s worth of Bitcoin in March 2026,” underscoring a clear uptick in state-level BTC distribution.

Arkham first revealed in a 2025 research note that the Royal Government of Bhutan held “just over 13K BTC, or $764M worth,” making it the fourth-largest government Bitcoin holder at the time, behind the United States, China and the United Kingdom. Unlike other states that mainly acquire BTC via law-enforcement seizures, Arkham stressed that Bhutan’s stash comes from “government funded mining operations” launched in 2019 and run through DHI. With hydroelectricity as its backbone, DHI has effectively been converting surplus renewable power into a sovereign BTC reserve, a strategy Bitcointreasuries.net says fits the kingdom’s push to diversify income beyond hydropower exports and tourism.

$50M move fits broader sell-off pattern

The latest 700 BTC outflow is not an isolated event. MEXC News reported that on March 25, 2026, Bhutan sold 519.7 BTC “worth $37.75 million,” sending funds from DHI wallets to an address frequently interacting with Singapore-based OTC trading firm QCP Capital, suggesting an off-exchange sale “to avoid market disruption.” A separate Bitcoin.com report noted that earlier in the month, with Bitcoin near $68,600, Bhutan “nudged 175 bitcoin” — then about $11.85M — from a DHI-controlled wallet, leaving the country with 5,424.7 BTC valued at roughly $372M at that time. CryptoRank and other trackers have since estimated that Bhutan has moved between $45M and $120M in BTC across a series of March transactions, shifting material portions of its treasury into trading-linked wallets.

Neither the Royal Government nor DHI has publicly explained the motive for the latest 700 BTC transaction, but prior commentary collected by CryptoRank suggests a mix of “portfolio rebalancing, securing profits, funding state projects, or moving assets to a different custody solution.” Yahoo Finance similarly framed the flows as “a trend of consistent outflows” rather than panic selling, noting Bhutan’s near-zero marginal cost of production from hydropower mining makes realized gains on BTC sales effectively pure profit before capex.

Bhutan’s mining-led Bitcoin experiment

Bhutan’s use of Bitcoin as a sovereign asset is unusual but deliberate. Bitcointreasuries.net reports that Bhutan began mining BTC in 2019, using state-backed hydropower to build a digital reserve that aligned with its Gross National Happiness philosophy by monetizing green energy without heavy industrialization. Arkham’s research identified at least four large mining sites, including one repurposing a failed $1B “Education City” project, illustrating how the kingdom has redirected legacy development plans toward digital asset production.

As Bhutan’s BTC balance declines from over 13,000 BTC toward the mid-4,000s, each on-chain movement is now read as a signal about how a small but sophisticated sovereign views Bitcoin’s (BTC) role in its treasury. In a previous crypto.news story on large-scale crypto hacks, researchers estimated that $2.4B was lost in 2025 H1 alone, underscoring why a state miner like Bhutan might prioritize secure, gradual sales through OTC desks over holding an ever-growing on-chain trove. Another story on institutional fund flows detailed how sovereign and quasi-sovereign players increasingly treat BTC as a macro hedge that can be tactically sold to fund infrastructure or diversify reserves in periods of strength. A third story on mining-led sovereign strategies highlighted how countries with cheap energy often use BTC not just as a speculative asset but as a monetization tool for stranded power — a category into which Bhutan squarely falls.