Bhutan's lunar series coins are struck under the authority of the Royal Monetary Authority, established in 1982 as the kingdom's central bank — relatively late for a sovereign issuing institution. The Year of the Rabbit holds particular significance in Bhutanese Buddhism, associated with the Buddha's birth year in traditional Tibetan-influenced calendrical reckoning, which gives these issues a domestic religious resonance that purely commercial bullion programs rarely carry.
Bhutan's lunar series coins are struck under the authority of the Royal Monetary Authority, established in 1982 as the kingdom's central bank — relatively late for a sovereign issuing institution. The Year of the Rabbit holds particular significance in Bhutanese Buddhism, associated with the Buddha's birth year in traditional Tibetan-influenced calendrical reckoning, which gives these issues a domestic religious resonance that purely commercial bullion programs rarely carry.