The Royal Government of Bhutan extends its Bitcoin (BTC) selling streak

The Royal Government of Bhutan is extending its selling streak, moving more Bitcoin (BTC) to external exchanges. After years of accumulation, the known wallets of Druk Holdings are moving assets once again. 

The Royal Government of Bhutan is taking profits with its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. After accumulating for years through mining operations, the known state-owned wallets are once again moving their assets for an imminent sale. 

The latest transaction was for 100 BTC, sent to an unknown CoinJoin address. Before that, the state’s wallets sent out 406.074 BTC to QCP Capital, one of the government’s usual counterparties. The latest sale is valued at around $40M, after previous smaller tranches to Binance. The current wallet transfers are also not necessarily a direct sale as they may be linked to further investments using BTC. 

The Royal Government of Bhutan is selling at a time when BTC miners are also shedding some of their holdings, taking advantage of prices close to $100,000 per coin. Miner reserves are now down to 1.89M coins, from a recent level of 1.91M. Miners have been selling for the past six months, with accelerated deposits after BTC had its latest Q4 rally.

The Royal Government of Bhutan uses either QCP Capital or Binance for selling some of its mined coins. QCP Capital is known for its tailored solutions to trading BTC, with the potential for OTC selling for large orders. 

Bhutan joins BTC miners in liquidating holdings

The sale took place just as BTC slid further down, to $98,469.80. For most miners, this price is above even the most expensive production fees for new BTC. However, direct selling to exchanges at this price range may lead to additional slippage or panic, leading Bhutan to choose a personalized solution.

Even after recent sales, the Royal Government of Bhutan still holds more than $1.153B in BTC, as the asset is still relatively close to its all-time high. However, the last transfers from Foundry Digital and Antpool are from three months ago, with no more daily mining inflows. 

Other known wallets received mining inflows a month ago, retaining another 2,465 BTC. A smaller wallet holds 1,768 BTC, while a smaller intermediary wallet holds 188.85 BTC. In the past few hours, some of the BTC holdings were sent to the last wallet for additional reserves.   

After the latest divestment, the Royal Government of Bhutan retains 11,688 BTC in its main known wallet. The total estimated holdings from all known wallets may be up to 12,200 BTC. 

Bhutan BTC holding is an alternative to foreign reserves

The Royal Government of Bhutan’s holdings puts it ahead of Tesla and US Riot Platforms. The wallet is the fifth-largest based on other countries’ estimates, holding 0.05 of the entire BTC supply. The country can be ranked third, but other reports put Ukraine in that place, with 46,351 BTC from various donations. 

On the scale of the BTC economy, Bhutan’s holdings lag behind those of even relatively small exchanges. However, the BTC wallets are key to Bhutan’s stability. The country has around $648M in foreign reserves, down from 981M in 2021. BTC is a highly liquid asset, which can boost reserves and provide new investment opportunities for the small kingdom. 

Bhutan’s BTC wallet also makes up a significant size of the Bhutan economy, which produces $2.7B annually. Bitcoin’s appreciation in the past few months has added significantly to the country’s GDP, though some of the profits are unrealized. 

The country has mined BTC since 2019, though reports of its full mining capabilities emerged in the past year. Bhutan uses excess renewable hydroelectric power for its mining facilities, after committing to a data center investment. 

For now, governments lag behind corporate BTC holders, as most of the coins are still taken up for treasuries, or for ETF reserves. Talk of official state reserves of BTC have not been connected to official policy, and most large government holdings are still from confiscated assets.

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