Analysis: Bhutan denies selling Bitcoin, on-chain data points to approximately $1 billion in suspected BTC outflows causing controversy

According to CoinDesk, on-chain analysis firm Arkham Data shows that over the past year, wallets associated with Bhutan have seen outflows of approximately $1 billion in Bitcoin, with funds flowing to multiple trading platforms and trading institutions, reducing their holdings from about 13,000 BTC to around 3,100 BTC.

Arkham speculates that there may be ongoing selling behavior, and if the trend continues, the relevant addresses may be cleared of holdings before October 2026. However, Bhutan's sovereign fund Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) stated that "they do not recall any recent Bitcoin sales," did not respond to specific changes in on-chain addresses, and did not confirm the current holding size, only emphasizing that there are no additional comments.

The report points out that some of the fund inflow paths are related to institutions such as Galaxy Digital and OKX, leading the market to interpret this as selling or over-the-counter trading behavior, but there are also possibilities of transfers into custody, collateralization, or structured trading that do not involve selling. Additionally, some trading institution personnel stated that there has been no clear selling recently.

Furthermore, Bhutan's previous commitment to a reserve of 10,000 BTC for the "Gelephu Mindfulness City" project has also been questioned due to potential sell-offs. Currently, there is still significant disagreement regarding its actual holdings and mining operations.