Bitget has signed a cooperation agreement with the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority to explore establishing a regulated digital-asset business in Bhutan. The agreement gives the exchange a framework to create a local legal entity, prepare an application for a Financial Services Licence and work with authorities on regulatory, operational and ecosystem-development initiatives. The agreement is a pre-licensing step, not authorization to begin regulated operations.
Gelephu Mindfulness City is a highly autonomous Special Administrative Region in southern Bhutan, established by Royal Charter in December 2024 with its own executive, legislative and judicial powers. Bitget said its planned presence would include local hiring and office operations over time. The expansion would place the exchange inside a jurisdiction explicitly building finance and digital assets into its economic strategy.
Licence Process Requires Local Substance Before Operations
Financial services and virtual-asset activities in GMC are supervised by the Gelephu Financial Services Office under the Financial Services Act 2025 and related rulebooks. Firms conducting regulated activities must obtain a Financial Services Licence, while virtual-asset businesses face additional guidance covering AML controls, technology governance, custody and risk management. Bitget must still pass that regulatory process before launching licensed services in the region.
The GFSO process includes regulatory review followed, if successful, by an In-Principle Approval carrying conditions that must be satisfied before a full licence is issued. Those conditions can include incorporating a GMC company, opening a local bank account, injecting required regulatory capital, obtaining office space and hiring key personnel. Even an In-Principle Approval would not permit Bitget to start business until the final licence is granted.
As of August 7, the GFSO’s public Financial Institutions Directory lists several approved digital-asset businesses, including BTSE Exchange, Ceffu Digital and Matrix entities, but does not list Bitget. The official record therefore supports describing Bitget as a prospective applicant rather than an already licensed operator in GMC.
Bhutan Builds an Institutional Digital-Asset Hub
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the company intends to contribute exchange experience, market-infrastructure knowledge and local talent development as GMC’s ecosystem grows. GMCA board director Jigdrel Singay similarly framed the cooperation around institutional standards and long-term capability building. The partnership focuses as much on establishing local operating substance as on market access.
The agreement follows another institutional digital-asset initiative in Gelephu. On July 30, asset manager 3iQ announced a mandate to manage a portion of GMC’s Bitcoin reserves while establishing a long-term local presence and supporting knowledge transfer. GMC said up to 10,000 Bitcoin from Bhutan’s national holdings had previously been allocated to support the city’s development. These initiatives show GMC combining sovereign digital-asset capital with regulated private-sector infrastructure.
Bitget has not disclosed when it expects to submit or complete its licence application, which regulated activities it will ultimately seek permission to conduct, or when customer services could begin. The immediate milestone is regulatory preparation, while the larger test will be whether Bitget converts the cooperation agreement into an approved, locally staffed operation under GFSO supervision.
