A special administrative region in Bhutan announced on Wednesday that it will hold Bitcoin BTC/USD, Ethereum ETH/USD, and BNB Coin BNB/USD as part of its strategic reserve.
What happened: Gelephu Mindfulness City, situated in the south-central part of the Himalayan nation, said in a statement that they opted for cryptocurrencies with large capitalizations to ensure ease of trading and to avoid liquidity risks.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB were placed first, second, and fifth among the most valuable cryptocurrencies, respectively.
The endeavor was meant to strengthen the region’s economic resilience and expand its existing capabilities in the Bitcoin mining sector.
See Also: US Government Silk Road Bitcoin Holdings Drop To 0 Amid Report DOJ Approved To Sell $6.5 Billion Worth Of Crypto
Reacting to the development, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said that this was the first time a multi-asset cryptocurrency reserve had been set up in any jurisdiction.
"This signals that Bhutan is open-minded and open to other cryptocurrencies," Zhao noted.
Note that El Salvador has a strategic Bitcoin treasury reserve in place, and it was the first to enact such a fiscal policy measure.
A dream project of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the Gelephu Mindfulness City is a planned economic hub with separate rules and laws, providing enterprises with legal freedom and executive autonomy.
Why It Matters: Bhutan has attracted eyeballs for its rapidly growing Bitcoin holdings, with on-chain data indicating a stash of 11.688K BTC, worth over $1 billion.
This made it the fifth-largest government holder of the apex digital currency behind the U.S., China, the UK, Ukraine, and surprisingly, above El Salvador, according to bitcointreasuries.net.
Interestingly, Bhutan’s Bitcoin reserves were not derived from law enforcement seizures but rather from indigenous mining capabilities backed by its substantial hydropower resources.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $93,165.38, down 3.30% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Ethereum traded at $3,308.62 after a fall of 1.45%, while BNB was up 0.60% to $694.15.
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