The cryptocurrency industry is no longer in its nascent stage. Almost every part of the world is now aware of this market, and some have even started embracing these digital assets. Bhutan, a nation in the midst of the Himalayas, turned out to be one of them. The country has been covertly investing millions of dollars in Bitcoin [BTC] and other cryptocurrencies.
The country has been employing now-defunct firms BlockFi and Celsius for their cryptocurrency investments. Their interests, however, have been hidden from the general public due to the insolvency of the firms.
According to court filings, BlockFi and Celsius were clients of Bhutan’s $2.9 billion state investment arm, Druk Holding & Investments [DHI]. Forbes brought this information to light in a recent report.
While Druk Holding & Investments is in charge of overseeing a portfolio of domestic assets, Druk has also been discreetly building a portfolio of crypto assets since at least 2022. It was unintentionally made public during the crypto contagion of 2022, when FTX, Celsius, and other firms nosedived.
Here’s how much Bitcoin was purchased
Furthermore, a Celsius filing revealed DHI took out over $65 million and deposited about $18 million in digital assets. Additionally, transaction logs reveal that Druk Holding & Investments, together with an account titled “Druk Project Fund,” carried out hundreds of transactions between April and June of 2022. This included deposits, withdrawals, and borrowing of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and a few other assets.
Attorneys for BlockFi claimed that DHI had defaulted on its $30 million loan in March and slapped a case against the organization to recover the unclaimed assets.
BlockFi said that DHI refused to return the loan in full after selling the 1,888 Bitcoin that served as security. It was then valued at $76.5 million. The CEO of DHI, however, claims that the “matter with BlockFi has been settled.”