Bhutan opens to tourists – But with a $10K stake into the Solana network

For a few years, Bhutan was referred to as one of many hardest international locations to go to. Journey was tightly managed, guests needed to ebook by means of official guides, and each day charges may go above $250.

This was completed intentionally to restrict tourism. However in early 2026, Bhutan modified its strategy and opened its doorways in a really completely different manner, utilizing blockchain know-how.

The nation has launched its first Digital Nomad Visa, however with a singular rule. Anybody making use of should deposit $10,000 into TER, a gold-backed digital token constructed on the Solana [SOL] community.

Every TER token represents 0.01 grams of bodily gold saved securely in vaults and will be refunded when the vacationer leaves the nation.

As anticipated, Solana too celebrated this win and famous, 

Supply: Solana/X

Solana’s market dynamics fear buyers

Bhutan’s $10,000 entry requirement for digital residency comes at a troublesome time for the Solana ecosystem.

At press time, SOL was trading close to $82.57 after a small each day restoration, however it’s nonetheless down about 32% over the previous month.

This exhibits that the market continues to be beneath stress, even when short-term panic has eased.

Moreover, Glassnode information steered that in early February, buyers offered at enormous losses, with realized losses reaching $1.45 billion.

Supply: Glassnode

That quantity has now fallen to about $251.9 million, which implies a lot of the pressured promoting is over. Nevertheless, it additionally means that many merchants are drained and hesitant, not enthusiastic about shopping for once more.

Shifting ahead, information from Santiment exhibits that Solana is at present going through three issues without delay. First, Open Curiosity is falling, which implies leveraged merchants are closing positions and now not anticipating fast positive aspects.

Supply: Santiment

Secondly, lively addresses are dropping, exhibiting that fewer customers are utilizing the community in comparison with the busy days of memecoins and NFTs in 2025.

Lastly, growth exercise can also be slowing, which raises issues about long-term innovation and upgrades. Collectively, these tendencies level to a cooling community, not rising.

This makes Bhutan’s transfer extra complicated than it first seems. By asking digital nomads to lock $10,000 right into a Solana-based, gold-backed token, the nation is amassing capital at a time when the community is comparatively weak.

What’s extra?

For Bhutan, that is good; it helps assist its digital economic system at a decrease value, however for customers, nevertheless, it’s a dangerous choice.

This adopted Bhutan’s Bitcoin [BTC] treasury exhibiting uncommon exercise. This week, blockchain tracker Arkham flagged giant BTC transfers, a few of which later moved as USDT to exchanges like Binance and Kraken.

Whereas that is solely a small a part of Bhutan’s holdings, the timing is essential.

Up to now, the nation offered Bitcoin rigorously, however doing so now, when Solana is cooling and Bitcoin is beneath stress, suggests a extra defensive strategy. 

Closing Abstract

• Linking visas to a $10,000 gold-backed token exhibits robust confidence in digital property, whilst crypto markets stay fragile.
• Falling Open Curiosity and lively addresses point out that merchants and customers are stepping again, limiting near-term development.