The government of Bhutan has moved 100.44 BTC worth $8.2 million, with reserves still standing at 3,119 BTC.
The government of Bhutan has transferred 100.44 BTC, equivalent to approximately $8.2 million, to an unidentified address on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. The transfer took place at 5:27 UTC in three separate transactions to an address beginning with “bc1qn”, according to onchain analytics platform Arkham, which has been monitoring the bitcoin reserves of the small Himalayan kingdom since 2024.
According to Arkham, the transfers appear to be destined for sale, bringing total outflows from addresses labeled as Bhutanese to over $230 million since the start of the year. The liquidation pace stands at around $50 million per month. Analysts added: “If they managed to sell everything at the current BTC price, they would exit the market with $767 million in onchain profit”.
The specific motivation behind the transfers remains unknown. Some previous movements had been traced as deposits to exchange Binance and asset manager Galaxy Digital. However, the latest transfers could also represent a simple consolidation of funds: the assets were moved from an old Bitcoin address in “3” format (Pay-to-Script-Hash, P2SH) to a more modern “bc1q” format (native SegWit, P2WPKH).
According to Arkham data, Bhutan still holds 3,119 BTC, currently valued at around $252.3 million. This marks a significant decline from the peak of approximately 13,000 BTC reached in October 2024, with a reduction of nearly 3,000 BTC in the course of this year alone. The bitcoin is held by Druk Holding & Investments, Bhutan’s state investment arm.
Based on Bitcoin Treasuries data, Bhutan is the eighth largest known bitcoin holder among nation-states, behind the United States (328,372 BTC), China (190,000 BTC), the United Kingdom (61,245 BTC), Ukraine (46,351 BTC), El Salvador (7,649 BTC), the United Arab Emirates (6,420 BTC), and Kazakhstan (3,544 BTC). Unlike most countries, which have accumulated bitcoin primarily through seizures linked to criminal activity, Bhutan has built its reserves through hydroelectric mining, leveraging the country’s abundant water resources for low-environmental-impact mining operations.
However, speculation is growing that the government may have halted its mining activity: according to Arkham, the last bitcoin inflow exceeding $100,000 dates back to more than a year ago.
