3iQ appointed to manage a portion of Bhutan's Bitcoin reserves for its Gelephu Mindfulness City project.
Macro & Markets ·
3iQ has been appointed to manage a portion of Bitcoin reserves held by Bhutan's Gelephu Mindfulness City project. The partnership represents an institutional custody arrangement for assets the kingdom accumulated through hydropower-backed mining operations beginning around 2019.
Bhutan's bitcoin holdings emerged from surplus electricity generated by run-of-river hydropower directed into mining via the state-owned sovereign wealth fund. Blockchain forensics attributed peak holdings of roughly 13,000 BTC to government-linked addresses in late 2024. Beginning in mid-2025, substantial outflows from those reserves to centralized exchanges and unlabeled wallets became visible on chain, with analysts tracking drawdowns to below 1,750 BTC by early 2026.
The 3iQ mandate signals institutional structuring of remaining reserves tied to Gelephu Mindfulness City, a crypto-friendly special administrative region offering zero-tax incentives to regulated Web3 firms. Whether the appointment encompasses all or a subset of remaining holdings, and the precise custody and management terms, remain unspecified in available reporting.