Key Points
- Mubadala Investments, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, is speculated to own more Bitcoin than previously reported.
- The news has sparked discussions about the United States including Bitcoin in its sovereign wealth fund.
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala Investments, is now the 7th largest holder of BlackRock Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, after investing $461M in Q4 2024.
This update has fueled speculation that Abu Dhabi might have as much as $40 billion in Bitcoin holdings.
Unverified Bitcoin Holdings
The UAE has never officially disclosed its Bitcoin stash.
According to Binance founder CZ, the reported $461M Bitcoin holding could be just a fraction of what Abu Dhabi actually owns.
He suggested that this report only accounts for one of the Sovereign Wealth Funds (Mubadala) in Abu Dhabi, and there could be others.
US to Follow UAE’s Lead?
David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Magazine, believes that Abu Dhabi and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members are increasing their Bitcoin holdings.
This has led to calls for the U.S to include a National Bitcoin Reserve in President Trump’s recently announced sovereign wealth fund (SWF).
The Bitcoin Policy Institute, an advocacy group for the cryptocurrency, has also suggested that the U.S could use the ~200,000 Bitcoin already in federal custody from law enforcement seizures to fund the SWF without requiring new taxpayer funding.
However, the market has massively underpriced such a move, with Polymarket’s latest odds pricing the possibility at a mere 14% by summer 2025.
Despite the bullish updates and apparent ‘nation-state’ moves on Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s value remained muted at press time.
It has been struggling below $100k for ten days, with the cryptocurrency valued at $97k, down 12% from its ATH at press time.
