Abu Dhabi funds keep $764M in BlackRock Bitcoin ETF

Two Abu Dhabi sovereign investors kept their combined 22.94 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) unchanged through the quarter ended June 30, regulatory Form 13F filings show. The unchanged share counts meant roughly $118 million in paper value was lost as Bitcoin and the ETF declined.

Mubadala Investment Company reported ownership of 14,721,917 IBIT shares at June 30, the same amount it held three months earlier. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council reported 8,218,712 shares. The combined positions were valued at about $881.4 million at the end of March and about $764 million at the end of June. Mubadala’s reported IBIT holding fell in reported value to about $490.1 million from $565.6 million over the quarter, while ADIC’s position was worth roughly $273.6 million as of June 30.

Bitcoin traded near $62,900 on Friday, down about 29% from roughly $88,700 at the start of 2026 and about half the level of the record above $126,000 reached last October. BlackRock’s IBIT shares were down about 27.6% year to date through Aug. 13, with net assets around $47.35 billion. Bitcoin-focused ETFs together have seen assets fall by roughly $40 billion from earlier peak levels.

The Abu Dhabi holdings contrasted with moves by some institutional investors. Harvard University reduced its IBIT position by about 43% during the first quarter after prior reductions. Mubadala increased its IBIT stake in the first quarter, adding more than two million shares as prices weakened, after boosting the holding by about 46% in the final quarter of 2025. ADIC began reporting the IBIT position directly earlier this year after prior disclosures were made through a subsidiary; the change did not alter beneficial ownership.

Michael Tanguma, chief executive of Onramp Bitcoin, suggested Abu Dhabi may also hold Bitcoin directly in cold wallets. He noted that Form 13F filings cover specified U.S.-listed securities and do not reveal coins held in sovereign-controlled wallets.

Abu Dhabi has expanded institutional activity in digital assets alongside these holdings. The Abu Dhabi Global Market has operated a virtual-asset regulatory framework since 2018 and hosts more than 20 firms licensed to work with virtual assets and fiat-referenced tokens. Under that framework, one global trading platform received a license and a custody and trading provider won approval to build a tokenization hub in Abu Dhabi.

State-linked capital commitments include an agreement for a $2 billion investment in a major crypto company and a technology ecosystem program that has committed more than $2 billion to Web3 and blockchain startups. In July, Mubadala Capital moved a private-market fund onchain, making the strategy available in tokenized form across Base, Solana and Sui.

The filings show the sovereign funds kept their IBIT share counts steady through the volatile second quarter, while regulatory disclosure requirements leave open the possibility of additional, unreported direct Bitcoin holdings.