Bhutan’s royal government has transferred nearly 100.44 Bitcoins, worth around $8.2 million, to an unlabelled address on Tuesday, causing suspicion among market participants.
The country shifted the funds to an unwon wallet address starting from “bc1qn” at 5:27 a.m. UTC in three transactions, according to the onchain analytics platform Arkham. The platform has been meticulously tracking the Himalayan kingdom’s Bitcoin transactions since 2024.
The transfer comes at a time when the entire crypto market has seen extreme volatility, with Bitcoin trading at $80,754.01, down 0.28 percent at the press time.
Is Bhutan aggressively selling?
Arkham in its official report said that the transfers appeared to be for selling, adding to outflows from Bhutan labeled addresses of more than $230 million since the start of the year.
The continuous selling has bought the outflow to around $50 million worth of Bitcoin per month. “If they manage to sell everything at the current price of BTC, they would exit the market with $767 million of onchain profit,” Arkham said.
According to Arkham, Bhutan still holds some 3,119 BTC, which is currently valued at around $252.3 million, down from a peak of approximately 13,000 BTC in October 2024 and dropping by nearly 3,000 BTC year-to-date.
Additional reports highlight that if Bhutan continues its selling spree, Bhutan could run out of its Bitcoin reserves by the end of the year.
Bhutan’s different approach for Bitcoin reserves
Bhutan’s Bitcoin treasury is managed by the country’s investment and holding company called Druk Holding & Investments.
According to Bitcoin Treasuries’ data, Bhutan presently stands as the eighth largest government with Bitcoin reserves among all nations in the world, lagging behind such economies as the US, China, the UK, Ukraine, El Salvador, the UAE, and Kazakhstan.
The difference between Bhutan and other nations concerning their accumulation of BTC lies in the methods they used to build up their reserves of digital currency. Whereas many governments acquired their Bitcoin by seizures, confiscation, or legal measures, the small nation of Bhutan mostly gained its BTC through mining.
With its significant hydro-electric power resources, Bhutan utilizes renewable energy in order to mine Bitcoin, thus earning itself the status of one of the most environmentally friendly locations for cryptocurrency mining.
Recently, some changes in blockchain activity around Bhutan raised concerns regarding its crypto mining operations. As was noted by Arkham’s data, wallets associated with the country have not registered any Bitcoin inflows of more than $100,000 within the last year.
Bhutan yet to explain latest Bitcoin treasury transfers
The exact reason behind the latest Bitcoin transfers is still not publicly known, and Bhutan’s government has not issued any official statement explaining the movement of funds.
In some previous cases, blockchain tracking firms had connected similar transfers to platforms such as Binance and Galaxy Digital, leading to speculation that the assets may have been moved for trading, investment management, or custody-related purposes.
That said, the most recent transfers may not necessarily indicate that the Bitcoin is being sold or sent to an exchange. Some analysts believe the movement could simply reflect a technical wallet upgrade or an internal reshuffling of funds.
According to blockchain data, the assets were moved from an older style Bitcoin address beginning with the number “3” to a newer address format starting with “bc1q.”
Bitcoin wallet addresses have changed over the years as the network introduced newer technologies designed to improve transaction efficiency, reduce fees, and support more advanced features.
The oldest address format typically starts with “1,” followed by a later version beginning with “3.” Newer SegWit-enabled addresses now commonly begin with “bc1q,” while the latest Taproot-based format uses addresses starting with “bc1p.”
