Bhutan has sold another $22.3 million in Bitcoin mined by its state-owned operation amid falling crypto prices and deteriorating mining economics. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham reports the country moved 184 BTC (about $14 million) from its national reserve on Wednesday and 100.8 BTC (about $8.3 million) last Friday. The transfers were sent to crypto market maker QCP Capital, which often facilitates converting assets to liquidity.
Since launching Bitcoin mining in 2019—largely powered by hydropower—Bhutan has accumulated roughly $765 million in Bitcoin, Arkham says. But the data show mining is becoming costlier: the estimated cost to mine one BTC has about doubled since the 2024 halving, and Bhutan is producing far less BTC than in 2023, when it mined 8,200 BTC.
Bhutan’s holdings have dropped from a peak of 13,295 BTC in October 2024 to about 5,700 BTC. Bitcoin Treasuries data now rank Bhutan seventh among nation-states by BTC holdings, behind the US, China, UK, Ukraine, El Salvador and the UAE.
Arkham notes Bhutan periodically sells in chunks of roughly $50 million, with a previous heavy selling period in mid-to-late September 2025. Cointelegraph reached out to Druk Holding and Investments—the state entity behind Bhutan’s Bitcoin strategy—but received no immediate response.
The sell-off coincides with a broader Bitcoin decline: BTC is down about 42.8% from its $126,080 all-time high in October to below $72,000, and market sentiment has slid to levels seen in mid-2022. The downturn has been linked to factors including U.S. government shutdown risks, geopolitical and trade tensions, delayed crypto market-structure legislation in Washington, and a shift of investors toward traditional safe havens like gold and silver despite high global liquidity.
Technical and security concerns have added to negative narratives. Reports flag quantum computing as a future risk to Bitcoin’s security model, while the network hashrate has fallen below 1 zetahash per second as some miners unplug unprofitable equipment.
Cointelegraph notes this article follows its editorial policy and encourages readers to verify information independently.
