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Ahmed Barakat
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In the latest Bitcoin news, Gelephu Mindfulness City, Bhutan’s southern special administrative region, has named Toronto-based 3iQ Corp. as the first institutional manager for a portion of its Bitcoin treasury, formalizing what had been a state-level BTC accumulation strategy into an active, named-mandate arrangement.
The announcement, dated July 30, 2026, marks the first concrete step toward deployment since Bhutan announced in December 2025 that up to 10,000 Bitcoin from its national holdings would be allocated to support GMC’s long-term development.
The mandate grants 3iQ discretionary management over a defined portion of GMC’s Bitcoin reserves, though the press release does not disclose the specific amount of BTC, the custody arrangement, permitted strategies, or the fee structure.
That opacity is notable for a sovereign-linked reserve mandate; operational details that traders would typically expect to accompany an institutional announcement of this scale remain absent.
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Bitcoin News: What the Mandate Actually Covers
Per the announcement, 3iQ’s role extends beyond conventional asset management. The firm has committed to investing in local talent development, knowledge transfer, and establishing a permanent office in Gelephu, positioning itself as a founding institutional partner in building GMC into what the city describes as “Bhutan’s new digital offshore financial hub.
” 3iQ CEO Pascal St-Jean said the firm would put Bhutan’s capital to work “responsibly, transparently and for the long term.”
Jigdrel Singay, a board director at GMC, described 3iQ as one of the city’s founding institutional partners and specifically cited the firm’s commitment to building local capabilities as a differentiating factor in the selection process, not just its track record in digital asset management.
GMC’s choice of 3iQ reflects a deliberate approach of pairing national capital with institutional-grade external expertise rather than managing reserves purely in-house.
3iQ is a subsidiary of Coincheck Group N.V. (NASDAQ: CNCK), a NASDAQ-listed holding company based in the Netherlands.
Founded in Toronto in 2012, 3iQ built its reputation as Canada’s first regulated digital asset fund manager and was the first to launch a Bitcoin and Ethereum ETP on a major global stock exchange. The Gelephu mandate represents a significant expansion of the firm’s client profile into sovereign and quasi-sovereign territory.
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Bhutan’s BTC Position and the GMC Build-Out
Bhutan’s Bitcoin reserves were accumulated primarily through hydropower-backed mining and managed by Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), the kingdom’s sovereign investment arm.
Arkham Intelligence data shows Bhutan’s sovereign holdings have shifted significantly over the past two years – from roughly 13,390 BTC in October 2024 to an estimated 5,600 BTC by mid-2026, with more than $237 million moved out of reserve addresses since January, likely to fund domestic infrastructure priorities, including GMC itself
The 3iQ partnership represents what the primary source calls “the next step” in deploying the Bitcoin earmarked for Gelephu, signaling that at least a portion of GMC’s BTC allocation is being held and professionally managed rather than liquidated.
That distinction matters: Bhutan has been simultaneously selling part of its stack while now institutionalizing management of the remainder – a shift from pure accumulation toward active portfolio deployment.
GMC has been constructing the broader regulatory infrastructure to attract additional operators. According to supplementary reporting, the zone introduced a fast-track licensing route for firms already regulated in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, offers zero corporate tax in selected sectors, and provides access to banking through DK Bank.
The 3iQ mandate is framed as the first of several milestones the two organizations plan to announce as GMC pursues its goal of becoming a competitive digital offshore financial center, placing it in the same strategic conversation as established hubs, but with a sovereign BTC-mining backstory as its capital base.
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