Bitcoin (BTC): 3iQ Named Manager for Bhutan's 10,000-BTC Plan

Bitcoin News

Bhutan's Gelephu Mindfulness City has placed part of its Bitcoin (BTC) treasury under external institutional control, naming Toronto-based 3iQ Corp. as its first official reserve manager. The special administrative region's board confirmed the mandate in an announcement dated July 30, 2026, giving 3iQ discretionary authority over a defined slice of state-linked BTC. The arrangement converts a December 2025 policy pledge, which earmarked as much as 10,000 BTC for city development, into an operational asset-management structure. The official disclosure did not reveal the exact amount delegated, the custody setup, permitted trading strategies, or fees, an unusual level of confidentiality for a public-sector reserve mandate. 3iQ's responsibilities extend beyond portfolio decisions. The firm will open a permanent office in Gelephu, train local staff, and transfer technical knowledge, supporting the city's plan to become a digital offshore financial center. 3iQ's chief executive, Pascal St-Jean, framed the work as long-term and transparent capital stewardship, while GMC board director Jigdrel Singay stressed local capability building as a decisive selection factor. The manager is a subsidiary of Coincheck Group N.V., listed on NASDAQ under CNCK, and was founded in 2012. It has previously launched Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products, and the Bhutan assignment moves its client base closer to sovereign territory. Bhutan's national holdings, managed by Druk Holding and Investments, were built mainly from hydropower-fed mining. On-chain records show the position fell from about 13,390 BTC in 2024 to roughly 5,600 BTC by mid-2026, while about $237 million left reserve addresses earlier this year. Those transfers appear linked to infrastructure funding, including GMC, making the new mandate a signal that remaining coins may be treated as an active portfolio rather than a liquidation pool. For a country that accumulated BTC through hydropower-backed ASIC mining, the step reframes the asset from a passive reserve toward a professionally managed development instrument, as followed on our Bitcoin desk.

The 3iQ mandate is structured as a discretionary investment arrangement, meaning the manager can make execution decisions within agreed limits without seeking approval for every trade. That model is common in institutional portfolios, but the lack of disclosed size, custody path, strategy boundaries, and fee terms stands out for a sovereign-linked BTC reserve. The partnership also positions 3iQ as a founding institutional partner in GMC's wider economic design, not merely an external fund administrator. The city is building a regulatory package intended to attract digital-asset firms, including accelerated licensing for companies already authorized in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, selected-sector corporate tax exemptions, and banking access via DK Bank. In that framework, the reserve manager becomes an anchor institution for a planned offshore finance ecosystem. The July 30 announcement describes the mandate as the first deployment milestone for BTC earmarked for Gelephu, with further partnerships expected as GMC seeks recognition alongside established hubs. The city's pitch rests on a sovereign BTC-mining backstory, giving it a capital base that conventional offshore centers lack. 3iQ's corporate history supports that ambition. The firm operates within Coincheck Group N.V., a Netherlands-based holding company traded on NASDAQ under CNCK, and it began in Toronto in 2012 as Canada's first regulated digital-asset fund manager. It later brought Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products to a major stock exchange, giving it experience with regulated wrappers around volatile crypto assets. The new role expands 3iQ's client profile from funds and exchanges toward quasi-sovereign balance sheets. For Bhutan, the message is equally strategic. The kingdom has reduced parts of its reserve while placing the remainder under professional oversight, suggesting a shift from simple accumulation toward active treasury management. The GMC experiment ties that shift to national development goals, using BTC as collateral for institutional credibility, talent formation, and a new financial-services identity.

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