Gelephu Mindfulness City is going to integrate Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin into reserves, promoting blockchain innovation and economic resilience.
Bhutan’s new Special Administration Region, Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), has revealed its plan to include digital assets such as Bitcoin BTC $116 746 24h volatility: 1.1% Market cap: $2.33 T Vol. 24h: $39.83 B , Ethereum ETH $4 508 24h volatility: 0.4% Market cap: $543.94 B Vol. 24h: $27.80 B , and Binance Coin BNB $955.4 24h volatility: 3.6% Market cap: $132.92 B Vol. 24h: $1.86 B as part of its strategic reserves. This decision makes the region one of the first to incorporate digital assets into its strategic reserves.
GMC noted that adding digital assets to its strategic reserves will help improve the region’s economic stability and resilience. It plans to include digital assets with high market capitalizations and deep liquidity in its strategic reserves to ensure they can be traded easily without any major impact on the price. Also, it will focus more on digital assets issued on secure and well-established blockchains that allow for effective on-chain transaction monitoring. GMC wrote:
“For its strategic reserves, GMC intends to recognise digital assets that have large market capitalisations and deep liquidity to ensure that they can be easily bought and sold with minimal price impact. In addition, GMC will look to recognise digital assets that are issued on more mature, secure blockchains that support monitoring of on-chain transactions.”
Digital Assets for Economic Stability
The announcement follows the introduction of the Application of Laws Act 2024, announced in December 2024, which created rules for companies offering digital asset services in Gelephu Mindfulness City. This law, including BTC, ETH, and BNB in its reserves, aims to support GMC’s digital asset growth in a secure and regulated environment.
“The enactment of this law, coupled with recognising digital assets such as BTC, ETH and BNB as part of GMC’s strategic reserves, is intended to bolster the growth of the digital asset ecosystem in GMC within a technologically progressive, yet well-regulated environment,” GMC stated.
GMC is situated on the land bridge linking South Asia’s growing economy, positioned to serve the over two billion people in the region. A key economic priority for GMC is advancing blockchain technology, reflecting its focus on innovation and emerging technologies.
Global Meeting on Strategic Reserves Scheduled for March 2025
The press release revealed that GMC will host a meeting in the Kingdom of Bhutan in March this year with global government officials and industry leaders to discuss recognizing digital assets in strategic reserves and establishing an international advisory panel on digital assets for GMC. GMC stated:
“In March 2025, GMC plans to convene a high-level meeting in the Kingdom of Bhutan of senior government officials and industry leaders from across the world to discuss the recognition of digital assets as part of a jurisdiction’s strategic reserves, and the setting up of an international advisory panel on digital assets for GMC.”
Bhutan has been investing in crypto for some time. In May 2023, the country allocated 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to bitcoin mining. It now holds more than $1 billion in Bitcoin, as crypto prices surged in November.
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