The Himalayan country of Bhutan has partnered with Binance Pay to enable crypto payments throughout its tourism ecosystem. The integration, powered in conjunction with Bhutan’s local DK Bank, will reportedly allow tourists visiting the country to pay for things such as airline tickets, visa fees, hotel stays, monument entry, tour guides, and street food from roadside stalls with cryptocurrencies.
The new integration currently supports over 100 cryptocurrencies, including Binance Coin (BNB), Bitcoin (BTC), and USD Coin (USDC), and settles via the local cy, the Ngultrum (BTN), through DK Bank. According to Binance, over 100 local merchants have been onboarded to the platform. The crypto exchange claims that the integration will enable small or rural local businesses, which may lack traditional payments infrastructure like card terminals, to accept crypto payments with their smartphones using only a QR code.
QR codes are already one of the most popular forms of payment in the region, while the infrastructure supporting traditional payment rails like Visa or Mastercard is comparatively underdeveloped. Binance also highlighted how the tool could help avoid common travel headaches like high transaction and cy exchange fees, and the limited acceptance of international cards.
It’s still unclear what Bhutan’s adoption of crypto payments will look like in practice. Though Bitcoin was legal tender in El Salvador between 2021 and early 2025, some studies showed relatively limited uptake by local businesses, who often opted to use US dollars instead. It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Bhutan is signing deals with major crypto payments providers; the country has emerged as one of the most crypto-first nations in recent years in some respects.
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