Bhutan Goes Full Crypto: Tourism Now Powered by Binance Pay
Bhutan’s tourism sector just cut the legacy payment middlemen—Binance Pay will now process all transactions for visitors. No more fiat friction, just seamless crypto spending in the Himalayan kingdom.
The move signals Bhutan’s aggressive pivot toward blockchain infrastructure. Tourists can pay for hotels, treks, and momo dumplings without touching a credit card. Local merchants get instant settlements—no more waiting 3-5 business days for banks to wake up.
Critics whisper about volatility risks, but Bhutan’s GDP is smaller than Binance’s quarterly trading volume. When your economy runs on happiness indexes, why not gamble on crypto adoption?
Bhutan looks to crypto and tourism
It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Bhutan is signing deals with major crypto payments providers; the country has emerged as one of the most crypto-first nations in recent years in some respects.
Despite its relatively small economy, it has acquired the fifth-largest Bitcoin reserve of any country—ahead of El Salvador—according to data from Arkham Intelligence. This comes as a result of its abundant renewable energy supply and cold weather, which make it an ideal location for Bitcoin mining. Its Bitcoin reserves have previously been used to pay state employees like teachers, and its leaders have earmarked mining as a way to fuel economic growth.
Meanwhile, a Special Administrative Region in Bhutan announced earlier this year it is to formally adopt digital assets, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance’s BNB token, as part of its strategic reserves.
Meanwhile, Bhutan’s government is also pushing to increase tourism revenues, planning for tourism to one day represent up to 20% of its entire economy.
