Bhutan's Bitcoin Bonfire: The Royal Treasury is Taking a 66% Trim

Bhutan is back on the selling bender, and the spigot is cranked to full blast. The Royal Government just shuffled another 519.707 BTC, a cool $36.75 million, out the door to an external wallet—because apparently, even kingdoms need to take profits sometimes.

This latest transaction is part of a liquidation schedule that's moving faster than a degen chasing a 100x meme coin. Total outflows for 2026 have already rocketed to roughly $152 million. The week prior was the kingdom's most frenetic period in Bitcoin history, with a flurry of transfers adding up to about $72 million, proving that even sovereign HODLers can get paper hands.

The royal fire sale featured the year's headline-grabbing, single-batch exit: 595.848 BTC worth $44.44 million. That king-sized dump was trailed by smaller, yet still significant, sends of 205.53 BTC ($15.14 million), 150.047 BTC ($11.14 million), and 20.506 BTC ($1.52 million) straight to the folks at QCP Capital.

The tempo has undeniably changed. January and February were like cautious limit orders, with modest $5-15 million clips. Then March rolled in with the heavy artillery, making $35-45 million transfers look as routine as another Elon tweet moving the market.

Singapore's QCP Capital has been the most frequent recipient, bagging three separate transfers this year totaling about $16.6 million. Their recurring guest appearance screams "structured OTC deal," not your average panic-induced dump onto a thin order book—this is selling with a plan, not a prayer.

Bhutan's fabled treasure trove, accumulated through state-subsidized hydro mining with a cost basis that would make any miner weep with envy, once peaked at around 13,000 BTC in late 2024. The great drawdown began after October 2024 and has been about as gentle as a bear market rug pull.

Current reserves have now dwindled to a mere 4,453 BTC, valued at $315 million. That's a brutal 66% haircut from the all-time high. The portfolio's value tells a tale of double jeopardy: it once neared $1.88 billion and has been sucker-punched by both aggressive distribution and Bitcoin's price correction from its $119,000 peak down to $70,000.

This paints a rather ironic picture. Just last December, Bhutan proudly announced a Bitcoin Development Pledge, vowing to commit up to 10,000 BTC to bankroll the Gelephu Mindfulness City project. Back then, that promise was worth a serene $860 million.

The government's coffers now hold fewer than 4,500 coins. Making good on that original pledge, in its current grandiose form, is now a mathematical fantasy unless they suddenly develop diamond hands and reverse course entirely. CoinDesk has pinged Druk Holding & Investments, the kingdom's commercial arm, for comment on the recent wallet activity and the current status of that Gelephu commitment.