Saudi Central Bank invests in MicroStrategy who are Big on Bitcoin

Saudi Central Bank invests in MicroStrategy who are Big on Bitcoin

Saudi Central Bank better known as SAMA in a recent SEC ( Securities and Commodities Exchange) 13F filing has disclosed that it has invested and holds 25,656 shares in MicroStrategy Inc. For those not familiar with MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, it is an award-winning AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Business Intelligence platform trusted to deliver intelligence everywhere, on any cloud, at enterprise scale.

It is also one of the biggest buyers of Bitcoin. Its strategy has been to issue equity, debt and preferred stock to acquire the digital currency, and it has been on a buying spree. Its Bitcoin holdings have more than doubled since Sept 2024, when it held 252,200 coins. It had about 447,000 coins at the end of 2024. Now, MicroStrategy owns 568,840 bitcoins as of May 12, 2025.

Its CEO Michael Saylor in an interview on Al Arabiya encouraged countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait to purchase Bitcoin as well. In the Al Arabiya English interview with Hadley Gamble, he works to convince the globe on why Bitcoin is the center of the AI economy, and why countries including KSA, Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE as well as the rest of the world should buy Bitcoin. He then states that GCC region with its low taxation, its digital asset regulations, and its trusted banking sector could become the trusted digital asset custodians for the digital economy.

MicroStrategy states the average purchase price as $66,384.56 USD per bitcoin with a total cost of $33.139 billion USD.

Now, Saudi Central Bank, has indirectly become an investor in Bitcoin with its 25,656 Shares in MicroStrategy.

The Saudi Central Bank is not the first with exposure to Bitcoin. Prior to this Mubadala Fund of UAE invested in Bitcoin ETF with BlackRock. More recently Mubadala increased its investment in Black Rock’s Bitcoin ETF. It now holds a $408.5 million stake in IShare Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). While MGX, UAE sovereign Fund and a big investor in AI, recently invested $2 billion into Binance.

Even Bahrain based Al Abraaj Restaurants Group B.S.C. (Ticker: ABRAAJ) (“Company”), a public listed company on the Bahrain Bourse, has announced that it put Bitcoin on its balance sheet. The Group has purchased Bitcoin in partnership with U.S. based 10X Capital, becoming the first publicly traded company in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”), and the Middle East to acquire Bitcoin as a treasury asset.

While Saudi Arabia has yet to come out with its crypto regulation, it has been investing heavily in Web3 technologies, including AI, Blockchain and others. Could this be the beginning of an opening up to crypto after the United States seems to have changed its stance on the asset, or just another AI investment? It just might be both!


UAE Sovereign Fund Mubadala increases investment in Bitcoin

UAE Sovereign Fund Mubadala increases investment in Bitcoin

While the rumor mill across the crypto ecosystem over the past days speculated that countries such as Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia were investing in Bitcoin, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, disclosed a $408.5 million stake in IShare Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in a 13F filing released on My 15th 2025.

The fund reported holding 8,726,972 shares as of March 31, 2025, an increase from 8,235,533 shares reported at the end of 2024. This increased exposure showcases the perception change regarding Bitcoin and crypto in general after President Trump has taken office.

Back at the end of 2024, UAE Mubadala, a sovereign investment fund, revealed in an SEC Filing that in late 2024 it invested $436 million worth in BlackRock’s Ishares Bitcoin Trust ETF. The disclosure was made through a 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

At the time while Mubadala’s investment in Bitcoin while not directly but through an ETF is a significant departure from the usual investments made by Sovereign funds in the Middle East and GCC region.

The UAE in particular has been showcased as having 30% of its population owning crypto. Prior to this announcement another UAE sovereign wealth fund, through one of its subsidiaries FSI ( FS Innovation) agreed with US based Marathon digital holdings, a digital asset mining company establishing and operating facilities for digital asset mining in Abu Dhabi. The initial phase consisted of two digital asset mining sites comprising 250 MW (megawatts) in Abu Dhabi UAE. Marathon Holdings will own 20% of the joint company in UAE only. The cost of the project being $406 million.

Bahrain Restaurant Group also announced investment in Bitcoin

Bahrain based Al Abraaj Restaurants Group B.S.C. (Ticker: ABRAAJ) (“Company”), a public listed company on the Bahrain Bourse, announced that it has put Bitcoin on its balance sheet. As per the news on Zawya, the Group has purchased Bitcoin in partnership with U.S. based 10X Capital, becoming the first publicly traded company in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”), and the Middle East to acquire Bitcoin as a treasury asset.

Al Abraaj has acquired an initial amount of 5 Bitcoin with plans to build on this initial purchase and begin allocating a significant portion of its corporate treasury into Bitcoin.

As per the announcement, Al Abraaj considers Bitcoin to be its reserve treasury asset. Al Abraaj is a profitable company, with 2024 EBITDA of USD $12.5 million.

UAE Mubadala Sovereign wealth fund invests close to half a billion dollars in Bitcoin

UAE Mubadala Sovereign wealth fund invests close to half a billion dollars in Bitcoin

UAE Mubadala, a sovereign investment fund, has revealed in an SEC Filing that in late 2024 it invested $436,895,026 in BlackRock’s Ishares Bitcoin Trust ETF. The disclosure was made through a 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Mubadala’s investment in Bitcoin while not directly but through an ETF is a significant departure from the usual investments made by Sovereign funds in the Middle East and GCC region.

It reflects a growing interest in the UAE in Bitcoin and crypto assets.

The UAE in particular has been showcased as having 30% of its population owning crypto.

Prior to this announcement another UAE sovereign wealth fund, through one of its subsidiaries FSI ( FS Innovation) agreed with US based Marathon digital holdings, a digital asset mining company establishing and operating facilities for digital asset mining in Abu Dhabi.

The initial phase consisted of two digital asset mining sites comprising 250 MW (megawatts) in Abu Dhabi UAE. Marathon Holdings will own 20% of the joint company in UAE only. The cost of the project being $406 million.

ADQ in addition also registered Zero Two, to launch its digital assets business in Abu Dhabi UAE to offer latest generation technologies. Zero Two aimed to build and operate data center and offer digital asset management services as part of ADQ’s digital asset strategy. The name “Zero Two” is derived from the significance of the numerals 0 and 2 in Web3 technology.

Then in September 2022, Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and Further Ventures, an investment firm back by ADQ launched a $200 million fund focused on Fintech, digital assets and supplychain.

Prior to that rumors circulated in 2024 that a Qatar sovereign fund was investing in Bitcoin, but nothing was ever verified.

Recently as well, Wisconsin’s investment board increased its holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) to over 6 million shares. The state fund was the first of its kind to report a bitcoin ETF purchase in 2024.

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Again Saudi Arabia is barred from an AI investment

Again Saudi Arabia is barred from an AI investment

Once again Saudi Arabia has not been allowed to invest in an AI entity out of the United States. This time the company is Anthropic partly owned by the fallen FTX crypto exchange. As per CNBC, while sovereign wealth funds are among the investors eyeing to buy into Anthropic, including UAE Mubadala, Saudi Arabia is not one of them.

Anthropic according to sources speaking to CNBC, has ruled out taking money from investors or sovereign wealth fund in KSA. Anthropic executives cited national security, one of the sources told CNBC.

The stake in Anthropic is for sale because it belongs to FTX, the failed cryptocurrency exchange started by Sam Bankman-Fried, and is being unloaded as part of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. FTX bought the shares three years ago for $500 million. The 8% stake is now worth more than $1 billion due to the recent boom in AI.

As per the article proceeds from the sale will be used to repay FTX customers. The transaction is ongoing and is on track to wrap up in the next couple weeks, said people with knowledge of the talks who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private.

The class B shares, which don’t come with voting rights, are being sold at Anthropic’s last valuation of $18.4 billion, sources said. Anthropic has raised roughly $7 billion in the last few years from tech giants like Amazon, Alphabet and Salesforce

While Anthropic’s founders told bankers they wouldn’t accept Saudi money, they don’t plan to challenge funding from other sovereign wealth funds, including United Arab Emirates fund Mubadala. The UAE-based firm is actively looking at investing, according to one of the sources.

In November 2023, The Biden administration forced a Saudi Aramco-backed venture capital firm to sell its shares in a Silicon Valley AI chip startup backed by OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, as per Bloomberg

Altman-backed Rain Neuromorphics, a startup designing chips that mimic the way the brain works and aims to serve companies using artificial intelligence algorithms, raised $25 million in 2022.

Aramco’s Prosperity7, a lead investor in the $25 million round for Rain AI, sold its shares in the startup after a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, people familiar with the matter said, according to the Bloomberg report.

The agency, a U.S. watchdog for deals with national security implications, told the Saudi fund to unwind that deal sometime over the past year, the report said.

This comes as Saudi Arabia plans to create a fund of about $40 billion to invest in artificial intelligence. In recent weeks, representatives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have discussed a potential partnership with Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms.