Singapore-based digital asset infrastructure provider Qore3 has partnered with Bhutan's Gyalpozhing College of Information Technology (GCIT) to bring blockchain technology and digital financial tools to a farming community in the Himalayas. The initiative, called Project Digital Village, will begin with 21 households in Rukha Village, located in Bhutan's Wangdue Phodrang district, and will focus on agricultural transactions, community finance, and digital inclusion.

Under the project, the partners will deploy multi-party computation (MPC) wallet solutions — a key-management design that splits key access across multiple parties so no single person holds a complete private key, an approach already common in institutional digital asset custody. They will also explore a utility token-based model for community finance, in which tokens are designed to serve a specific function within a platform or community, and pilot artificial intelligence-assisted digital wallets to evaluate how decentralized technologies can support rural livelihoods. The effort is intended to demonstrate how blockchain infrastructure can serve communities outside major financial centers while leaving residents in control of how the technology is used within their local economy.

Blockchain Research Centered on Community Needs

Project Digital Village will study how distributed ledger technology can support agricultural transactions and improve financial access for rural households. The stakes extend beyond one village: the World Bank's Global Findex database estimated that roughly 1.4 billion adults were still unbanked as of 2021, many of them in rural areas that conventional branch banking has struggled to reach. The participating organizations say they aim to build practical applications that reflect the community's existing economic activities and needs, rather than imposing a technology-driven model without local input.

Rukha's selection carries historical weight in Bhutan's community development efforts. The village was the starting point of an integrated rural development program established by the Tarayana Foundation, which was founded in 2003 by Queen Mother Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck. The foundation later expanded its development work to more than 150 villages across Bhutan and is taking part in the blockchain initiative.

Switzerland's Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts is also involved, joining researchers, educators, and blockchain industry participants in exploring practical applications of distributed ledger technology.

Field Research and AI Development Support Implementation

Fieldwork began in August 2026, when researchers from GCIT and Tarayana visited Rukha to assess household requirements and existing community practices. GCIT President Audrey Low and Qore3 Head of Partnerships Jeffrey Cheong joined the visit, which was intended to lay the groundwork for technology suited to the village's needs.

During the same period, Cheong led a workshop at GCIT on multi-agent AI development for faculty members and students. The session introduced concepts relevant to building digital tools with white-label technology stacks, which can be adapted and deployed under different organizations' brands.

Together, blockchain-based wallets and AI-assisted tools are intended to connect applied research with practical community use, with an emphasis on accessible technology, clear controls, and locally defined requirements.

Qore3 provides digital asset infrastructure for institutions, investment funds, fintech companies, payment platforms, and developers. Its platform combines non-custodial MPC wallets, role-based permissions, approval thresholds, and multi-chain treasury management, and supports controlled, auditable workflows for automated operations.

GCIT, part of the Royal University of Bhutan, specializes in computer science, cybersecurity, and digital innovation. Through its School of Future Computing and School of Interactive Design and Development, the college integrates industry projects, entrepreneurship, and applied research into its educational programs.

Long-Term Partnership Extends Blockchain Education

The initiative builds on a collaboration that began in early 2025, when Qore3 and GCIT started working together on capacity development, curriculum design, and talent recruitment. A newly signed memorandum of understanding formalizes a longer-term partnership to promote the development, advocacy, and adoption of blockchain solutions in Bhutan.

Qore3 Director Ong Zhen Guang said the project would challenge digital asset developers to build solutions for communities whose needs differ from those of institutional financial clients. He stressed the importance of simplicity, transparent controls, and building trust at the household level, adding that the experience could also refine the company's approach to developing infrastructure and working with educational institutions.

Low said the initiative was designed to make complex blockchain and digital asset concepts easier to understand. She identified technology education and broader digital inclusion as central objectives, with the project intended to help communities take part in an increasingly digital economy.

The memorandum was signed at Digital After Hours, a networking event hosted by Qore3 at CHIJMES in Singapore during TOKEN2049 Week, when one of the crypto industry's largest annual events draws thousands of participants to the city-state. The gathering also featured a discussion on trusted infrastructure for institutional cryptocurrency services, with representatives from Chainalysis, NEAR Foundation, Kiln, and Failsafe.

By combining rural field research, technology education, and digital finance experimentation, Project Digital Village will test whether blockchain-based solutions can deliver practical benefits to households and provide a model for future community-focused applications in Bhutan. How the utility token model is scoped, whether MPC-based wallets prove workable for households new to digital finance, and whether the pilot extends beyond Ruk into Tarayana's network of more than 150 villages will be among the first signs of whether the model can scale.