Two Abu Dhabi sovereign investors retained their combined 22.94 million shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) through the second quarter of 2026, keeping $764 million of exposure intact even as Bitcoin and the ETF declined sharply.
Mubadala Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) held their positions unchanged between March 31 and June 30, 2026, according to regulatory filings. The decision to maintain exposure came despite a $118 million erosion in the value of their combined holdings during Q2, driven by Bitcoin’s weakness.
Mubadala’s stake comprised 14.72 million shares valued at $490.1 million as of June 30, down from $565.6 million three months earlier. ADIC held 8.22 million shares worth $273.6 million, representing 33% of its entire 13F portfolio.
The stability in share count reflected a reversal from Mubadala’s aggressive accumulation earlier in 2026. In Q1, Mubadala increased its position by almost 16%, adding more than 2 million shares. In Q4 2025, the fund had boosted its stake by roughly 46%.
Bitcoin traded near $62,900 on the Friday before the article’s publication, down approximately 29% from roughly $88,700 at the start of 2026 and roughly half below the record above $126,000 reached in October 2025. IBIT itself declined 27.6% year-to-date through August 13, 2026, as Bitcoin ETF assets sector-wide fell from $116.7 billion to $95.5 billion.
The unchanged position distinguished Abu Dhabi’s approach from other institutional investors. Harvard University reduced its IBIT holding by 43% during Q1 2026 after trimming it late in 2025.
Broader Abu Dhabi Crypto Infrastructure
The sovereign funds’ Bitcoin ETF holdings sit within a wider Abu Dhabi strategy to build crypto and blockchain infrastructure. In December 2025, Binance received a global license under the Abu Dhabi Global Market framework, which has operated a dedicated virtual-asset regulatory framework since 2018. Coinbase secured regulatory approval for an international tokenization hub in Abu Dhabi this week.
Abu Dhabi Global Market has licensed 20 regulated firms under its framework. MGX, an Abu Dhabi-backed capital entity, invested $2 billion in Binance. Hub71, the government-backed technology ecosystem, has committed $2 billion in capital to Web3 and blockchain startups.
Mubadala’s IBIT position was its second-largest reported holding in its $34.8 billion 13F portfolio, trailing only GlobalFoundries. ADIC began reporting its IBIT position directly in 2026 after its subsidiary Al Warda Investments had previously disclosed the stake.
Michael Tanguma, chief executive of Onramp Bitcoin, noted that Abu Dhabi’s approach to Bitcoin exposure may extend beyond ETF structures. “Abu Dhabi may also hold Bitcoin directly in cold storage, arguing that relying exclusively on an ETF structure would be unusual for a sovereign investor seeking long-term exposure,” Tanguma said.
In July 2026, Mubadala Capital, the asset-management arm of Mubadala, moved a private-market fund onchain, signaling continued integration of blockchain infrastructure into the fund’s operations.
