Bhutan’s Bitcoin Exodus: Nation Dumps Holdings as Mining Costs Soar & Prices Tumble

Bhutan slashes its Bitcoin treasury—mining expenses surge while market dips force a strategic retreat.

The Himalayan Sell-Off

Forget hodling. When the math stops working, even nations cut their losses. That's the stark reality playing out as Bhutan—once a quiet crypto miner—unloads its Bitcoin stash. Rising energy costs are gutting mining margins, and with prices in a slump, the kingdom's digital gold rush is hitting a brutal reckoning.

Portfolio Surgery

This isn't panic selling; it's cold, hard portfolio rebalancing. The move signals a pivot from accumulation to risk management. When your mining rigs cost more to run than the assets they produce are worth, you stop digging and start selling. It's basic economics, even if it feels like heresy in crypto circles.

A Sovereign Strategy Unravels

Bhutan's retreat exposes the fragile calculus of state-backed crypto ventures. The dream of a decentralized treasury falters when confronted with real-world power bills and volatile charts. It turns out managing a national balance sheet requires more than diamond hands—it needs sustainable economics.

The takeaway? Even in the decentralized future, cash flow remains king. A harsh lesson for any finance minister who thought they could mine their way to prosperity without watching the bottom line.

Bitcoin’s price decline shocks the crypto market

Bhutan officially began bitcoin mining operations in 2019, primarily using hydroelectric power. Over the years, this initiative helped Bhutan build one of the more substantial Bitcoin holdings among nation-states. At this moment, Arkham noted that the country had collected around $765 million in Bitcoin.

Nonetheless, the blockchain analytics platform reported a roughly twofold increase in Bitcoin’s marginal production cost since the 2024 Bitcoin halving. As a result, Bhutan is currently producing significantly fewer Bitcoin than in 2023, when 8,200 BTC were mined.

For instance, the total number of Bitcoins in Bhutan’s reserves has sharply declined from an all-time high of 13,295 BTC in October to a low of 5,700 BTC. Moreover, data from Bitcoin Treasuries showed that the country has dropped in ranking, now ranking seventh in terms of Bitcoin holdings, lagging behind nations such as the US, China, the UK, Ukraine, El Salvador, and the United Arab Emirates. 

This situation prompted reporters to reach out to Druk Holding and Investments, the premier commercial and investment arm of the Royal Government of Bhutan, which manages its Bitcoin plan, to clarify the matter. However, they declined to respond to the request.

Still, blockchain analysts and crypto news outlets report that Bhutan’s recent transfers are part of a continuing pattern of sovereign Bitcoin sales, typically executed in tranches of around $50 million rather than a sudden liquidation.

Investors opt to adopt safer, less risky options amid heightened economic instability

Bhutan has seen its Bitcoin holdings decline as the cryptocurrency’s price has fallen sharply from its 2025 peak, dropping by more than 40 % from an all‑time high above $126,000 in October to around $72,000, exerting pressure on asset valuations.

At the same time, the network’s 2024 block reward halving doubled the cost of mining one Bitcoin, making mining operations less profitable and prompting Bhutan to reconsider its accumulation strategy.

Regarding this decline, analysts noted that investor sentiment has deteriorated, matching the pessimistic levels seen in mid-2022 in the last three months.

In attempts to explain the situation, sources claimed that Bitcoin experienced a drop amid US government shutdowns, ongoing tariff threats from US President Donald Trump, and the postponement of crypto market structure laws in Washington.

In the meantime, analysts found that although global liquidity is NEAR an all-time high, investors are pivoting toward safer, less risky options such as gold and silver amid broader economic instability.

Other factors that have contributed to recent debates regarding the fate of  Bitcoin include network hash power slipping from the zetahash milestone and fear that quantum computing could break the encryption securing digital wallets, prompting several operators to cease using economically unviable mining equipment.

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