Bhutan’s GMC Hires 3iQ to Run Bitcoin Treasury for Yield, Size Undisclosed

Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), Bhutan’s planned special administrative region in the country’s south, has handed part of its bitcoin treasury to Toronto-based asset manager 3iQ Corp. The mandate marks the first time GMC has moved beyond simply holding BTC, shifting a portion of its reserve into a “market-neutral” strategy designed to generate yield rather than sit idle on the balance sheet.

Neither GMC nor 3iQ disclosed the size of the mandate or its source, both firms confirmed. That opacity matters because it comes against the backdrop of a much larger, and still unverified, pledge: in December, Bhutan’s king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, said the country would allocate up to 10,000 BTC — worth roughly $1 billion at the time — as a long-term national asset to fund GMC’s development.

From “hold” to “put to work”

At the time of the December pledge, officials said the bitcoin could eventually be used for collateralization, active treasury strategies, or simply held long term, with no final decision made. The 3iQ mandate resolves at least part of that question: GMC says it selected 3iQ specifically to run the allocation through a low-risk, market-neutral approach rather than a passive buy-and-hold posture.

Market-neutral strategies typically include tactics such as basis trades and lending, and in general market conditions can generate annual yields of roughly 5% or more. GMC has not specified which approach 3iQ will use, only that the goal is long-term returns on the deployed BTC rather than exposure to price swings.

Questions over the 10,000 BTC pledge remain unresolved

The undisclosed mandate size is notable because the underlying 10,000 BTC commitment has faced scrutiny for months. In May, the CEO of Druk Holdings — the commercial arm of Bhutan’s government — Ujjwal Deep Dahal, said he could not recall the specifics of the pledge when asked by reporters, fueling doubts about how much of the promised bitcoin actually exists in GMC-linked wallets.

On-chain data has separately suggested that roughly $1 billion has moved out of wallets linked to Bhutan’s sovereign fund, adding further uncertainty about exactly how much bitcoin currently backs the GMC treasury and how it relates to the amount now being handed to 3iQ for active management.

Jobs and skills framing alongside the yield play

Beyond the financial mechanics, GMC officials have framed the 3iQ partnership as a development tool as much as an investment decision. They say the arrangement is intended to create jobs for Bhutanese youth and build local expertise in technology and finance, though specific training or hiring programs have not yet been detailed.

For crypto investors watching sovereign bitcoin strategies, the move is a signal that at least one nation-state-adjacent treasury is prioritizing yield generation over pure accumulation — a departure from the “digital gold reserve” narrative that dominated Bhutan’s original pledge. Until GMC discloses the mandate’s size, however, the practical scale of that shift, and how it squares with the disputed 10,000 BTC figure, remains unclear.

Sources

• coindesk.com
• cryptonews.com