Bhutan launched a gold-backed digital token on Thursday, the latest move in the country's multi-year-long blockchain adoption spree.

Gelephu Mindfulness City, a designated Special Administrative Region in Bhutan, issued TER, as a sovereign-backed token on Solana's blockchain, with each token representing physical gold held in custody, according to a press release shared with Decrypt.

"The latest move for the gold-backed token will have limited uptake, given it is for a specific use case in the GMC, but it again signals the Kingdom's vision to align with stablecoin ecosystems while choosing Gold as a neutral asset to underpin the token," Musheer Ahmed, founder and managing director of Finstep Asia, told Decrypt.



DK Bank, Bhutan's first digital bank regulated by the Royal Monetary Authority, will serve as the exclusive distributor and custodian for the token, with the latter’s name derived from the Dzongkha word for ‘treasure.’

Digital asset financial services platform Matrixdock, which received the Financial Services Licence from the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority in September, will provide the tokenization infrastructure.

"By issuing gold-backed digital tokens with sovereign branding, we are demonstrating how a crypto-friendly city can welcome responsible innovation while staying rooted in Bhutan's values of transparency, sustainability, and long-term stewardship," Jigdrel Singay, Board of Directors of GMC, said in a statement.

Users will be able to purchase TER directly through DK Bank in the first phase, with tokens held in institutional custody.

The launch follows Kyrgyzstan’s issuance of USDKG, a gold-backed national stablecoin valued at over $50 million and backed by the state's gold reserves.

“I feel Gold is chapter one,” Monica Jasuja, Chief Expansion and Innovation Officer at Emerging Payments Association Asia, told Decrypt.

 “Next could be silver, rare stones, or even tokenized cultural or environmental assets,” she noted, saying “Bhutan has long treated its natural resources as sacred; tokenization lets it monetize without extraction.”

Years of crypto integration

Bhutan's crypto strategy is built on Bitcoin mining operations launched in 2019, powered by the nation's abundant hydroelectric resources.

The country holds 5,984 BTC, valued at over $536 million, making it the seventh-largest sovereign holder globally, according to Arkham Intelligence data. 

The U.S. ranks first, with 328,369 BTC valued at over $29 billion, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data.

In January, Gelephu Mindfulness City announced plans to hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance's BNB as strategic reserves, prioritizing assets with high market capitalization and deep liquidity.

In May, the nation partnered with Binance Pay to enable crypto payments across tourism services, with the integration supporting over 100 cryptocurrencies and more than 100 local merchants.

Two months back, the kingdom integrated its National Digital Identity platform with Ethereum, becoming the first country to anchor population-scale identity systems on a public blockchain. 

Over 800,000 citizens are expected to gain access to cryptographically verifiable credentials by early 2026.

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