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.