Bhutan has quietly shifted a portion of its bitcoin holdings to trading firms and exchanges as the market tumbles, onchain data shows. Arkham Intelligence tracked more than 184 BTC — roughly $14 million at current prices — moving out of wallets linked to the Royal Government of Bhutan over the past 24 hours. Some coins were routed to new addresses, while others went to known counterparties, including QCP Capital and a Binance hot wallet — destinations typically used for trading, liquidity management or potential sales. CoinDesk contacted QCP Capital via Telegram for comment. The transfers come after roughly three months of wallet inactivity and coincide with a sharp selloff: bitcoin fell more than 7% in 24 hours to just under $71,000 (about $70,853 at the time of reporting). Broader markets were volatile as well, with silver plunging as much as 17% and global equities sliding amid concerns that heavy AI spending could undermine traditional software business models. Bhutan has become one of the more unconventional sovereign bitcoin holders. Over the last two years the country quietly amassed BTC through state-backed mining operations powered by hydropower, keeping its accumulation strategy largely out of the public eye. That long period of relative dormancy is why any wallet movement linked to Bhutan draws attention from traders and market watchers. The recent transfers do not prove outright selling. Splitting funds across new wallets can indicate internal restructuring, collateral management, or other balance-sheet activity rather than immediate liquidation. Still, routing coins to exchanges and trading firms during a sudden drawdown is notable, and sits alongside a broader pattern in this selloff: large holders — from corporate treasuries to miners and now sovereign-linked entities — treating bitcoin less like a static reserve and more like a liquid asset to deploy when markets tighten. For now, the motive behind Bhutan’s moves remains unclear. Market participants will be watching subsequent onchain flows for signs of further selling or redeployment. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news