Bhutan is trying to build its own version of Dubai’s crypto hub in Gelephu, using a sovereign Bitcoin treasury, clean hydropower and a fast-track regulatory regime to attract global digital-asset firms.
In latest devlopment, leading crypto exchange Bitget has agreed to establish a presence in Bhutan’s Gelephu Mindfulness City. Bitget’s presence will offer the economic hub its most prominent global retail crypto-exchange partner to date.
The cooperation agreement creates a framework for Bitget to form a local legal entity, open an office and hire employees in the special administrative region. It will also prepare an application for a Financial Services Licence.
The agreement does not itself authorize Bitget to operate an exchange from GMC.
Any regulated activity remains subject to approval from the Gelephu Financial Services Office, or GFSO, the city’s independent regulator for traditional finance and digital assets.
That distinction matters as Bhutan tries to turn sovereign interest in Bitcoin into a broader financial-services industry.
“Bhutan is approaching digital assets with a rare mix of long-term thinking, clean-energy advantage and regulatory clarity,” Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said in a statement shared with AlexaBlockchain.
“GMC is the emerging hotbed for digital finance, and Bitget looks forward to contributing exchange experience, infrastructure knowledge and local talent development as this ecosystem grows,” Chen added.
From Bitcoin mining to financial infrastructure
Bhutan began mining Bitcoin through state-owned Druk Holding and Investments in 2019, using electricity generated by the country’s hydropower system.
The strategy allowed Bhutan to convert periods of surplus electricity into a globally tradable asset. Crypto investment proceeds have also been used to support government finances, including public-sector salary increases, according to DHI’s chief executive.
Bhutan’s approach was initially closer to sovereign treasury management than industrial policy.
Gelephu Mindfulness City represents the next stage. Instead of only producing or holding Bitcoin, the country is attempting to attract exchanges, custodians, asset managers, market makers and tokenization companies that can build businesses around digital assets.
GMC was established by Royal Charter in December 2024 as a highly autonomous special administrative region. It covers more than 2,600 square kilometres along Bhutan’s southern border with India.
The project is intended to diversify an economy that remains heavily dependent on hydropower, tourism and public-sector activity.
It also seeks to address a more immediate problem: the migration of young Bhutanese workers searching for better employment overseas. More than 10% of the country’s young population left between 2022 and 2023, according to Reuters.
Digital finance, AI, and high-performance computing offer Bhutan industries that can be built without the manufacturing scale or large domestic market required by conventional economic hubs.
That is the strategic logic behind the Bitget agreement.
An exchange office alone will not transform the local economy. But hiring, compliance operations, technical support and relationships with other financial firms could help create the skilled workforce that GMC needs.
A regulatory system built for financial and crypto firms
GMC is using a separate legal and regulatory framework rather than relying solely on Bhutan’s national financial rules.
Its Financial Services Act 2025 covers conventional finance and virtual-asset activity under a single omnibus law. The regime is supplemented by rulebooks covering areas including business conduct, prudential standards, market infrastructure, anti-money-laundering controls and virtual assets.
The framework initially draws on laws used by Abu Dhabi Global Market, an international financial centre based on English common law.
That gives prospective firms a legal structure that is more familiar than an entirely untested domestic system. GMC is progressively replacing those borrowed provisions with its own legislation.
Applicants for virtual-asset licences must present their business model and risks to the GFSO before being invited to apply.
Successful applicants first receive in-principle approval. They must then establish a local company, open a bank account, provide regulatory capital, secure office space and hire key personnel before receiving a full licence.
Those substance requirements explain why Bitget’s planned office and local recruitment are important.
They also prevent GMC from becoming merely an offshore registration address for companies whose management and operations remain elsewhere.
“Our objective is to build a world-class digital asset ecosystem founded on robust regulation, institutional standards and long-term economic value,” GMC board director Jigdrel Singay said.
“Partners such as Bitget play an important role in bringing global expertise while contributing to the development of local capabilities and the broader financial ecosystem,” Jigdrel added.
What crypto firms could gain from GMC
GMC’s main advantage is not access to Bhutan’s small domestic consumer market.
Its potential value lies in a combination of regulatory autonomy, clean energy, proximity to India and a government willing to make digital assets part of its economic-development strategy.
The city has introduced an accelerated pathway for companies already licensed in established financial centres such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi.
GMC has also promoted coordinated access to licensing, corporate registration and banking. Its investment office advertises government coordination, long-term leases and continuing support for companies establishing operations in the city.
For Bitcoin miners and high-performance computing operators, Bhutan offers access to renewable hydropower.
For exchanges, custodians and asset managers, the greater attraction may be the ability to work within a jurisdiction that is designing its financial rules around digital assets from the outset.
The location could also become useful for companies seeking links with India while avoiding the regulatory uncertainty that has constrained parts of India’s domestic crypto industry.
However, access to Indian customers would remain governed by Indian law. A GMC licence would not automatically allow a company to market or provide regulated services across the border.
Bhutan is assembling an ecosystem, not relying on one exchange
Bitget is joining a growing group of digital-asset firms working with the city.
GMC previously partnered with Cumberland DRW involving liquidity infrastructure, local hiring and Bitcoin reserve management.
It also selected Matrixdock, a Matrixport business, to launch gold-backed token on Solana.
In latest devlopment, institutional digital-asset manager 3iQ has agreed to help develop investment infrastructure and manage part of GMC’s Bitcoin treasury through market-neutral strategies.
Custody provider Ceffu said in June that it had secured Financial Services License by the Gelephu Financial Services Office (GFSO).
These agreements cover different pieces of a potential financial centre: exchange access, custody, liquidity, tokenization and treasury management.
Bitget fills the consumer-facing exchange and market-infrastructure gap.
Bhutan has also experimented with blockchain beyond investment markets. The country integrated its national digital-identity system with Ethereum in 2025.
Earlier in 2025, It also enabled tourist to pay for goods and services with 100 +cryptocurrencies through Binance Pay.
Taken together, the initiatives show a coordinated strategy.
Bhutan is using Bitcoin mining to generate capital, blockchain for public infrastructure and GMC to attract private companies that can create jobs and financial activity.
Lessons from Abu Dhabi and Dubai
The model has precedents.
Abu Dhabi Global Market used a common-law legal system and a dedicated digital-asset framework to attract crypto companies alongside banks and asset managers. By December 2025, more than 20 firms licensed by its regulator were conducting activities involving virtual assets or fiat-referenced tokens.
ADGM ended 2025 with 12,671 active licences across all sectors, an increase of 30% from a year earlier. The result shows how regulatory autonomy can help a new financial district develop quickly when it is supported by capital, infrastructure and international connectivity.
Dubai followed a more crypto-specific route by creating the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. Its public register now covers firms with full licences and those holding in-principle approvals.
Those centres offer an important lesson for GMC.
Regulatory clarity can attract licence applications, but successful hubs also require banks, skilled workers, housing, transport links, reliable telecommunications and credible enforcement.
Bhutan starts with advantages in clean energy, political commitment and a recognizable national Bitcoin strategy.
It starts at a disadvantage in market size, aviation connectivity and the depth of its financial workforce.
The 10,000-Bitcoin commitment
Bhutan raised the scale of the project in December 2025 when it announced a Bitcoin Development Pledge of as much as 10,000 Bitcoin to support GMC and long-term national development.
The pledge gives GMC something most new economic zones lack: a potentially substantial pool of digitally native capital aligned with the industry it wants to attract.
But the wording is important.
A pledge of “up to” 10,000 Bitcoin does not mean the full amount has already been transferred into a city-controlled fund or committed for immediate spending. Bhutan’s sovereign Bitcoin balances have also changed materially as coins have been transferred or sold.
The economic outcome will therefore depend on how the assets are deployed.
Bitcoin can finance infrastructure and attract partners. It can also expose development plans to price volatility, custody risks and political scrutiny if spending and treasury-management arrangements are not transparent.
Why the Bitget agreement matters
The Bitget deal is significant because it moves GMC from institutional partnerships toward a company with a large global retail and trading operation.
It is also a test of whether foreign firms are prepared to establish substantive operations rather than simply sign cooperation agreements.
The next milestones will be more important than the announcement itself: incorporation, a formal licence application, regulatory approval, an operational office and measurable local hiring.
If those steps follow, Bitget could help anchor an exchange, custody and liquidity cluster around GMC.
If they do not, the agreement will remain one of several preliminary commitments attached to a city that is still under construction.
Bhutan’s larger strategy is nevertheless becoming clearer.
The kingdom is no longer treating Bitcoin only as an asset mined with excess hydropower. It is trying to use that advantage to build a regulated technology and financial centre capable of generating jobs, foreign investment and new sources of national income.
Bitget’s planned arrival is evidence that the strategy is attracting industry attention.
The above article “Bitget Joins Bhutan’s Bitcoin-Funded City as It Takes Shape as the Next Dubai for Crypto Firms” was first published on AlexaBlockchain. Read the complete article here: https://alexablockchain.com/bitget-joins-bhutan-bitcoin-funded-city-as-it-takes-shape-as-the-next-dubai-for-crypto-firms/
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