His investments have never been made public
Bhutan it is known for its magnificent icons and mountaintop monasteries. With an economy based heavily on agriculture and forestry and with infrastructure that only started supporting mobile phones two decades ago (traffic lights are still on the horizon). No one could associate this particular place with the cryptocurrency “boom” and bust.
And yet, over the past year, the world’s happiest country has quietly invested millions of dollars in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. According to court documents reviewed by Forbes, Bhutan’s $2.9 billion state investment arm was a client of bankrupt cryptocurrency lenders BlockFi and Celsius, something it never disclosed publicly.
Druk Holding & Investments, named after Bhutan’s national symbol, manages a portfolio of domestic assets: a local cheese factory, several hydroelectric plants and Royal Bhutan Airlines, which has a total of five planes.
When Druk was established in 2007 by royal charter (of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck), its aim was to safeguard the country’s wealth for “the long-term benefit of its shareholders, the people of Bhutan”. Druk employees, partners and the company itself have described it as a sovereign wealth fund, although it operates more like a state-owned enterprise. Today, it oversees 21 domestic companies.
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But at least as of 2022, Druk has also been building a secret crypto portfolio. This was accidentally revealed! It is unclear whether Druk’s holdings are linked to recent modernization initiatives in Bhutan, such as a biometric digital identity platform whose first user was the 7-year-old crown prince. However, this particular revelation raises questions about the reclusive nation’s relationship with the… tumultuous crypto economy.
Last month, lawyers for BlockFi, which filed for bankruptcy in November just days after FTX, filed a complaint against Druk in Thimphu, Bhutan’s capital and seat of the royal family. BlockFi accuses the fund of defaulting on a $30 million loan.
Months earlier, Druk had also been revealed as an institutional client of Celsius, one of the world’s largest crypto lenders. In October, Celsius released a document containing more than 14,000 pages of user data, including account names, addresses and transactions. Those records showed that Druk Holding & Investments, as well as an account called “Druk Project Fund,” made dozens of cryptocurrency transactions between April and June 2022.
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If it is, indeed, a sovereign wealth fund, it appears to be the first to hold cryptocurrency directly. Many have speculated for several years that sovereign wealth funds are starting to buy cryptocurrencies. For example, the Norwegian government’s pension fund – the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund – is a shareholder in MicroStrategy, whose massive holdings in bitcoin meant the fund accidentally held 600 bitcoins as of 2020. Singapore’s Temasek fund, worth $403 billion, has also been widely reported to have held cryptocurrencies, but denied the claim last year.
The Kingdom of Bhutan, located between China, Nepal and India, only opened its borders to foreigners in 1974 in an effort to develop its economy through high-end tourism. Before Bhutan temporarily banned foreign visitors as a result of the pandemic, tourism had become one of its most lucrative exports, along with hydropower and agriculture. And a number of open partnerships suggested the nation was seeing similar benefits in cryptocurrencies as well.
Source :Skai
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
