Bhutan Sovereign Investment Fund Secretly Held Millions of Dollars in Cryptocurrency
"The Himalayan kingdom has quietly been dumping millions of dollars into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies."
- According to court documents reviewed by Forbes, Bhutan’s $2.9 billion sovereign investment arm Druk Holding & Investments was a customer of bankrupt crypto lenders BlockFi and Celsius, which it has never publicly disclosed.
- "In the three months shown in the Celsius filing, Druk withdrew more than $65 million and deposited nearly $18 million in digital assets."
- Recently filed claim by BlockFi alleged that Druk “failed and refused” to repay a 30 million USD Coin loan in full, even after the lender liquidated a collateral of 1,888 bitcoin (worth $76.5 million at the time of the loan), leaving an unpaid balance of $820,000. According to Druk's CEO, "the matter with BlockFi has been settled."
- "Druk declined to comment on where these funds originated and how they were used."
- If Druk Holding & Investments is indeed a sovereign wealth fund, it would appear to be the first to directly own crypto.