Abu Dhabi’s sovereign investor has quietly tightened its grip on the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
Mubadala Investment Company increased its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), lifting its holdings to 12.7 million shares by the end of December. The stake is valued at approximately $630.6 million, marking a 46% jump from the 8.7 million shares it reported just three months earlier.
The move underscores how one of the Gulf’s most powerful capital allocators is leaning further into digital assets — even after last year’s violent “10/10” crypto sell-off that erased nearly $19 billion in leveraged positions within hours.
Mubadala wasn’t alone in doubling down. Al Warda Investments RSC also disclosed a sizeable IBIT position, holding 8.2 million shares worth about $408 million. Together, the two Abu Dhabi investors now command roughly $1.386 billion in the Bitcoin-focused ETF.
The timing is telling. Their expanded exposure came in the fourth quarter, months after markets were rattled by sharp volatility across digital assets. Rather than retreat, the capital flowed in.
The strategy fits a broader pattern emerging from the emirate. In March last year, Abu Dhabi-backed tech investor MGX struck a landmark $2 billion deal with crypto exchange Binance. MGX — launched in 2024 with support from G42 and Mubadala — became a minority shareholder through a stablecoin-denominated investment.
Taken together, the moves signal that Abu Dhabi’s institutional money is not merely experimenting with crypto — it is building positions at scale, using regulated vehicles like IBIT as its gateway.
In a market known for wild swings, the emirate’s approach appears less speculative and more strategic: accumulate during turbulence, anchor through institutions, and let time do the heavy lifting.
