Canadian digital asset manager 3iQ Corp. will work to manage some of the Bitcoin reserves of Bhutan’s Gelephu Mindfulness City project.
3iQ, Canada’s biggest and oldest digital asset fund manager, will not only manage the 10,000 Bitcoins pledged to build the new region, but also invest in local talent and establish a long-term physical presence in Gelephu as the region positions itself as Bhutan’s new offshore digital financial hub, according to a statement.
Bhutan last year said it would use 10,000 Bitcoins to fund a special administrative region called the Gelephu Mindfulness City. First announced in 2023, the GMC will be “a world-class economic hub in southern Bhutan.”
“From the very inception we were aligned with GMC’s vision to create a next-generation economic hub that attracts global talent while being committed to Bhutan’s cultural values and environmental principles,” 3iQ’s director and CEO, Pascal St-Jean, said in a statement.
The GMC’s Board Director, Jigdrel Singay, added: “Beyond their institutional expertise and global track record in digital asset management, what stood out to us was their genuine commitment to investing in people, transferring knowledge and building local capabilities.”
Bhutan has been buying Bitcoin for years, and the GMC project is a way of using its stack to
Bhutan started quietly mining Bitcoin in 2019. Then, in 2024, it announced it held a reserve of the digital coins before in January 2025 saying it would hold other cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet.
According to Bhutan’s government, the GMC, will be “a new economic hub in southern Bhutan designed around mindfulness, sustainability, and innovation,” and is central to Bhutan’s broader effort to diversify its economy beyond hydropower and tourism.
The plan is similar to El Salvador‘s crypto ambitions. The tiny Central American nation also announced plans in 2021 for a smart city dubbed “Bitcoin City” — a tax-free economic hub aimed at attracting the nomadic wealthy and tech entrepreneurs, funded via Bitcoin-backed tokenized bonds.
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