The Royal Government of Bhutan has transferred another 319.7 BTC, worth approximately $22.67 million, to two separate wallet addresses, according to on-chain data made public by blockchain analyst Onchain Lens on April 9, 2026.
One of the wallets is newly created and is speculated to be linked to an exchange, while the other has a documented history of routing funds to either OKX or Galaxy Digital. The move adds fresh momentum to a selldown that has now removed over $200 million worth of Bitcoin from Bhutan’s sovereign reserves in 2026 alone.
A wallet that leads somewhere familiar
On-chain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has been tracking Bhutan’s wallet activity throughout 2026, logging a steady stream of outflows from addresses linked to Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), the country’s sovereign wealth fund that manages its Bitcoin reserves. Wednesday’s 319.7 BTC transfer follows a pattern that has become familiar to market watchers: funds moved out of primary holding addresses toward counterparties with known links to institutional trading.
Analysts at Onchain Lens noted that one of the recipient wallets in this latest transfer has previously routed Bitcoin received from Bhutan to Galaxy Digital, a New York-based digital asset financial services firm. That same pattern emerged on April 1, when Bhutan sent 374.9 BTC worth $25.2 million to an address that was also later found to have forwarded funds to Galaxy Digital. The specifics of any arrangement between DHI and Galaxy Digital have not been publicly confirmed.
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An accelerating pace in 2026
What started as controlled, periodic clips in early 2026 has grown into a sustained drawdown. In January, Bhutan moved 184 BTC to an external wallet and sent another 100 BTC to Singapore-based OTC trading firm QCP Capital, total outflows for that month came in around $22 million. February brought similar activity. By March, the pace had shifted sharply upward.
Between March 17 and 18, Bhutan moved 973 BTC worth approximately $72.3 million across multiple addresses in what became the most active 48-hour window in the country’s Bitcoin history. A 519.7 BTC transfer worth $36.75 million followed on March 25. Another 123.7 BTC was sent on March 27. Then came the April 1 move of 374.9 BTC. Wednesday’s 319.7 BTC pushes cumulative 2026 outflows well past the $200 million mark, according to Arkham’s running totals.
From 13,000 BTC to a fraction of that
Bhutan’s Bitcoin reserves peaked at roughly 13,000 BTC in late 2024, built entirely through state-backed hydroelectric mining, not open-market purchases. The country began converting surplus hydropower into Bitcoin as early as 2019, creating a cost basis close to zero. That means every coin transferred out represents near-pure profit for the Himalayan kingdom, whose economy historically depends on hydropower exports to India and tourism revenue.
After Wednesday’s transfer, Bhutan’s holdings are estimated to sit below 3,600 BTC, a reduction of more than 72% from peak. At current Bitcoin prices hovering around $71,000, the remaining stack is worth approximately $255 million. Arkham’s balance chart shows the full trajectory: a slow accumulation from 2021 through late 2024, then a steep decline that has not let up since.
The Gelephu pledge and a widening gap
The accelerating selldown raises a pointed question about Bhutan’s most ambitious crypto commitment to date. In December 2025, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck announced the Bitcoin Development Pledge during his National Day Address, committing up to 10,000 BTC, then valued near $860 million, to fund Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), a planned special economic zone in southern Bhutan.
The project envisions Bitcoin not as a speculative holding but as national infrastructure, to be deployed through collateralisation, yield strategies, and long-term holding to finance roads, jobs, and economic diversification. GMC’s official pledge page describes it as a “values-led, responsible approach” to digital assets. At the time of the pledge, Bhutan held roughly 11,000–13,000 BTC depending on the analytics source.
With holdings now below 3,600 BTC, fulfilling that pledge in its original form has become mathematically implausible without reversing the drawdown entirely or significantly ramping up mining output. Analysts at CoinDesk flagged this gap as early as late March, noting that Bhutan holds fewer than half the coins pledged to GMC. Druk Holding has not publicly addressed whether the Gelephu commitment remains active or has been restructured.
Is Bhutan still mining?
A separate question hanging over the story is whether Bhutan’s mining operations are still running at all. Arkham’s on-chain data shows that identified Bhutan holding addresses have not recorded an inflow exceeding $100,000 in over a year, an unusual gap for a country that once accumulated thousands of BTC through active mining. Speculation has grown that state mining may have been wound down or redirected to unmarked wallets, a possibility Arkham itself acknowledged cannot be confirmed from on-chain data alone.
The April 2024 halving cut mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block, reducing the profitability of all Bitcoin miners globally. Some sovereign and institutional miners have since redirected computing power toward AI data centre workloads. Whether Bhutan has taken a similar pivot is unknown. Druk Holding has not released any public statement about its mining status.
Structured selling, not panic
Market analysts have largely described the activity as controlled treasury management rather than distressed liquidation. The same grouping of a small number of counterparties, especially QCP Capital, Galaxy Digital-linked addresses and Binance, means this is probably some sort of OTC deal instead of an open-market dump, which would have greater price impact risk. Bhutan’s selling has not been correlated with the price swings of Bitcoin suggesting, further, that the transfers follow an internal schedule rather than reactive.
Proceeds from prior Bitcoin sales are understood to have funded government operations, healthcare spending, and environmental programmes, areas the kingdom’s economy has historically supported through hydropower export revenues.
A sovereign holder thinning its stack, and the industry is watching
Bhutan’s path is the opposite of the broader trend of nation states amassing bitcoin. The United States, the largest sovereign holder of BTC by far, holds 328,372 BTC from criminal seizures. El Salvador has been consistently accumulating through dollar cost averaging. Bhutan announced a national strategic digital asset reserve in January 2026. The DHI selldown, which coincides with government push for Bitcoin adoption, creates tensions which people have noticed, the developments in the crypto space.
As far as traders and on-chain analysts are concerned, Bhutan’s DHI wallet is one of the most closely watched sovereign addresses. Every transaction triggers a wave of real-time commentary on platforms such as X, where Onchain Lens and Arkham’s own account are the first to flag transactions. On Wednesday, it became clear that the wallet linked to OKX/Galaxy Digital was a key indicator of institutional liquidity routing, Onchain Lens stated.
