Bhutan officials at Druk Holding said they have not sold any coin

[Oshosondy]

You can remember the thread we discussed about Bhutan could have likely sold 70% of his bitcoin holding: What is really happening with Bhutan here, are they in panic mode too?

This is what I found about on the news about it as of today, but Bhutan officials at Druk Holding said they have not sold any bitcoin.

Wallets attributed to Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), the kingdom of Bhutan’s sovereign wealth fund, have moved approximately $207 million in bitcoin out this year alone to various exchanges and trading firms, per Arkham's data.

Holdings in the Arkham-tagged wallets have dropped from roughly 13,000 BTC in October 2024 to around 3,100 BTC on Friday, worth $252 million as of Friday evening India time. The outflows have accelerated through 2026 to the point that Arkham estimates Bhutan will have sold all its remaining bitcoin by October if the current pace holds.But officials from the country's investment unit say they have not sold any bitcoin.

"I don't recall the last time we sold any BTC," DHI CEO Ujjwal Deep Dahal told CoinDesk via email. A separate reply from the division, when asked specifically about wallet movements tracked by Arkham, said only that "our statement stands and nothing to add beyond it."

DHI CEO Ujjwal Deep Dahal told CoinDesk that he does not recall the last time we sold any BTC.

You can read about it yourself: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/05/16/bhutan-doesn-t-recall-selling-any-bitcoin-disputing-widely-tracked-usd1-billion-btc-drawdown

This makes it confusing to know who is telling the truth.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Lol, at first sight I misread 'Drunk Holiday'.

<...>

Holdings in the Arkham-tagged wallets have dropped from roughly 13,000 BTC in October 2024 to around 3,100 BTC on Friday, worth $252 million as of Friday evening India time. The outflows have accelerated through 2026 to the point that Arkham estimates Bhutan will have sold all its remaining bitcoin by October if the current pace holds.But officials from the country's investment unit say they have not sold any bitcoin.

DHI CEO Ujjwal Deep Dahal told CoinDesk that he does not recall the last time we sold any BTC.

You can read about it yourself: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/05/16/bhutan-doesn-t-recall-selling-any-bitcoin-disputing-widely-tracked-usd1-billion-btc-drawdown

This makes it confusing to know who is telling the truth.

There would be an easy way to put these doubts to rest: they could sign messages from their Bitcoin addresses, if they are the ones managing them with their private keys. But given that not even Michael Saylor is willing to provide proof of his holdings, I don’t think they have any moral obligation to do so. On the other hand, I don’t see why they would lie; if they’ve sold it, they could simply report it and nothing would happen. But the way they’re answering the questions is suspicious. 

[Die_empty]

This makes it confusing to know who is telling the truth.

The decentralized nature of Bitcoin transactions makes it difficult to track transactions. Transferring Bitcoin to a centralized exchhnge is not prove that the coin has been sold. Arkham Intelligence might be wrong because they are not sure that those coins have been sold. Arkham said they get their data through:

variety of public data sources “synthesized and analyzed with AI, machine learning, and other data science techniques.

These sources of information mentioned are not without its errors or shortcomings. Since there is no concrete confirmation, it remains a speculation. If Bhutan government officials said they  have not sold, then we have to believe them because they are the most reliable source for now.

[Mahiyammahi]

Arkham don't track addresses confidently by knowing their asset manager. They hust assume , predict the coin behavior and attach name towards a single address. Since it's confidential we can't know for sure. We should not rely on a govt body. Despite the fact that they did not moved , but eventually a large numbers of btc moved right. It should effect market. But market usually affect on bad marketing by these individuals.

I think everyone is suspicious, do not trust anybody.

[noorman0]

-snip-
If Bhutan government officials said they  have not sold, then we have to believe them because they are the most reliable source for now.

Believing isn't an option in this case, selling Bitcoin holdings is sensitive information. I believe the lack of transparency isn't just about state secrets, but also a selling strategy for whales to get the best price.

The better approach is to disbelieve or not care.

[sergiorus]

Maybe they moved Bitcoins to CEXs to use them as a collateral and loan stablecoins? Or some exchanges also offer flexible or fixed yields on user's holdings, maybe they decided to use it.
In this case none of them technically is lying - BTC was moved to exchanges but never sold.

[BlackBoss_]

Maybe they moved Bitcoins to CEXs to use them as a collateral and loan stablecoins? Or some exchanges also offer flexible or fixed yields on user's holdings, maybe they decided to use it.
In this case none of them technically is lying - BTC was moved to exchanges but never sold.

It can be their storage change, wallet change, and nothing more, or it can be for other actions like selling or borrowing money but without evidence, it's just assumption.

I think about such news as nothing and no big effects on Bitcoin market, because Bhutan's Bitcoin holding is not too big, and even they sell all bitcoins they have, the market will not be shocked or crashed. It's interesting to follow up actions of a government Bitcoin portfolio especially it comes from Bitcoin mining and investment too, however over thinking about its effects on Bitcoin market is unnecessary.

[Nwada001]

Arkham can only do their part by tracking the coin movement, but they cannot determine what happened next to the coin in the exchange, if it was a means to hide the trace of where the entire coin will be stored or if they also have other intentions.

Only the exchange data can prove that, and since there have been statements from the Bhutan government, it can now bring down the speculation that they have sold most of their bitcoin, especially when they don't want to put more statement to the rumor; they want to remain anonymous to the reason for the coin movement.

[Cryptomultiplier]

You can remember the thread we discussed about Bhutan could have likely sold 70% of his bitcoin holding: What is really happening with Bhutan here, are they in panic mode too?

This is what I found about on the news about it as of today, but Bhutan officials at Druk Holding said they have not sold any bitcoin.

Wallets attributed to Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), the kingdom of Bhutan’s sovereign wealth fund, have moved approximately $207 million in bitcoin out this year alone to various exchanges and trading firms, per Arkham's data.

Holdings in the Arkham-tagged wallets have dropped from roughly 13,000 BTC in October 2024 to around 3,100 BTC on Friday, worth $252 million as of Friday evening India time. The outflows have accelerated through 2026 to the point that Arkham estimates Bhutan will have sold all its remaining bitcoin by October if the current pace holds.But officials from the country's investment unit say they have not sold any bitcoin.

"I don't recall the last time we sold any BTC," DHI CEO Ujjwal Deep Dahal told CoinDesk via email. A separate reply from the division, when asked specifically about wallet movements tracked by Arkham, said only that "our statement stands and nothing to add beyond it."

DHI CEO Ujjwal Deep Dahal told CoinDesk that he does not recall the last time we sold any BTC.

You can read about it yourself: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/05/16/bhutan-doesn-t-recall-selling-any-bitcoin-disputing-widely-tracked-usd1-billion-btc-drawdown

This makes it confusing to know who is telling the truth.

One fact you didn't acknowledge is that Bhutan mines its own Bitcoin and that shows that as their Bitcoin holdings dropped in quantity, they probably locked in their profits.
The national budget of Bhutan has links to Bitcoin as an integral part of it, so why would they sell because they just want to?

They are likely taking profit and servicing debt and since Arkhram has made sure to track their movement, perhaps that's why we assume they are in denial.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Very possible with Bhutan because I was surprised when I had it at the first place that they are mining Bitcoin secretly without the world to knowing, using hydroelectric power supply and this has been existing for some time, I also came across their bitcoin holdings and how the have been having this as an investment over time without selling their assets, which I know that there is more to explore about this country when it comes to bitcoin investment and mining, so I'm not surprised that they are still holding their coin to this present moment against the future.

[sergiorus]

Maybe they moved Bitcoins to CEXs to use them as a collateral and loan stablecoins? Or some exchanges also offer flexible or fixed yields on user's holdings, maybe they decided to use it.
In this case none of them technically is lying - BTC was moved to exchanges but never sold.

It can be their storage change, wallet change, and nothing more, or it can be for other actions like selling or borrowing money but without evidence, it's just assumption.

I think about such news as nothing and no big effects on Bitcoin market, because Bhutan's Bitcoin holding is not too big, and even they sell all bitcoins they have, the market will not be shocked or crashed. It's interesting to follow up actions of a government Bitcoin portfolio especially it comes from Bitcoin mining and investment too, however over thinking about its effects on Bitcoin market is unnecessary.

The market certainly doesn't care about this amount but it sets overall sentiment in the media if a country loses confidence in holding it.
But idk I checked Bybit (didn't check any other platforms as this is the only one i have an account on) and seems like you can get 0.3-0.4% APY on your Bitcoin there and that's probably more than you'd get in big Swiss banks on your CHF deposits.
Not bad, can totally imagine them going for that.

[Zaguru12]

There would be an easy way to put these doubts to rest: they could sign messages from their Bitcoin addresses, if they are the ones managing them with their private keys. But given that not even Michael Saylor is willing to provide proof of his holdings, I don’t think they have any moral obligation to do so. On the other hand, I don’t see why they would lie; if they’ve sold it, they could simply report it and nothing would happen. But the way they’re answering the questions is suspicious. 

Ideally I would say that they owe no one an explanation they could simply come out and say yes we took profit because we all know except the Satoshi owned coins everyone holding their bitcoin will definitely one day take profit even Microstrategy that once said they aren’t selling has cleared that, but I am not surprised seeing them doing this explanation because they are not just regular investors they are miners.

As bitcoin miners they don’t want to look that that are selling all their coins in a short period time, but even at that nothing stops miners too from selling. So there is more to this news than they are talking about.

Obviously they can’t sign message for the over 9,000 bitcoin sent out because it was sent to exchange which are all custodial wallets.

[ZAINmalik75]

You can read about it yourself: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/05/16/bhutan-doesn-t-recall-selling-any-bitcoin-disputing-widely-tracked-usd1-billion-btc-drawdown

This makes it confusing to know who is telling the truth.

Well, this is a classic "don't trust, but verify" situation. The Arkham on-chain data suggests they have moved their coins to Binance or other exchanges, so it is highly possible that they have already sold the coins or are preparing for an OTC deal, which might not have taken place yet. Because there is no way a country would trust depositing funds of that size, which matter a lot to them, on a centralized exchange that could be confiscated under political pressure.

The answer the CEO gave is also very political. It is not a hard or definitive answer, but more like I don't know, maybe or maybe not, I have not heard. They might be trying to prevent market panic, but when the on-chain data already spread, the panic in the market was still small. It was not big enough to dump the market. It was almost negligible.

[retreat]

When assets are transferred to an exchange or trading firm, it usually means they're being sold. However, because this is all done internally, no one can be certain whether the Bitcoin transferred by Druk Holding was actually sold, simply used as collateral, or transferred to a custodian. They once stated that they would use their Bitcoin as collateral for the construction of their future city, Gelephu Mindfulness City, so it is possible that these assets are not sold. Therefore, the CEO of Druk Holding's statement isn't wrong, as no one can be certain of the purpose of the asset transfer.

Unless there is an official statement from the exchanges and trading firms that Bhutan officially sold the assets to them, only then can we conclude that Bhutan has sold 70% of their Bitcoin holdings, but if not, then it is all just speculation.

[sokani]

We don't know who is telling the truth, but come to think of it. How do blockchain analytic platforms attach a name to an address? How do they know the address(es) that have been selling Bitcoin belongs to Bhutan? It's not like Bhutan and other nations and corporations make their addresses public, or do blockchain analytic platforms have agents in centralized exchanges that feed them info on every address and purchase made?