Al Warda Investments, an investment vehicle overseen by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), more than tripled its holdings of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) in the third quarter like bitcoin. It is heading towards October’s record high.
The 230% increase brought its investment to just under 8 million shares valued at $517.6 million, the firm said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Abu Dhabi Investment Council is a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Co., one of the emirate’s leading sovereign wealth groups. The disclosure provides insight into the council’s approach to digital assets, because it typically focuses on private market strategies such as procurement, infrastructure and real estate.
“We view Bitcoin as a store of value similar to gold, and as the world continues to move toward a more digital future, we see Bitcoin playing an increasingly important role alongside gold,” an ADIC spokesperson told Bloomberg. “Both assets help diversify our portfolio and we look forward to holding them as part of our short and long-term strategy.”
The move, which came just before Bitcoin hit a record near $126,000 in early October and then fell below $90,000 in November, adds to a growing wave of institutional interest. Harvard’s endowment fund recently disclosed a $443 million position in the same ETF, an allocation equivalent to about 20% of its holdings of U.S.-listed public stocks.
The 30% drop in the price of bitcoin from its peak has dampened interest in exchange-traded funds. On November 18, IBIT saw its largest single-day outflow since the product’s launch in January 2024. On Wednesday, it recorded its first net inflow since November 11.
