Abu Dhabi's Crypto Bet Holds Firm Amid Market Pain

Abu Dhabi's sovereign investment vehicles have taken a significant hit on their Blackrock spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) positions, but they're holding firm. Mubadala and ADIC reported nearly $764 million riding on IBIT shares as of June 30. The two funds took an estimated $118 million Q2 hit without reducing their net IBIT shares.

Mubadala held 14,721,917 IBIT shares worth approximately $490.1 million, while ADIC had 8,218,712 shares valued at about $273.6 million on June 30. Both funds finished with the same number of shares as they had in March, despite the value dropping by around $118 million.

The holdings also demonstrate Abu Dhabi's commitment to digital assets. The emirate has built regulated infrastructure and attracted exchanges, custodians, tokenization businesses, and mining operations. IBIT gives its sovereign capital another route into the sector through a regulated U.S.-listed security, avoiding operational complexities while still delivering price exposure.

Next quarter's filings will show whether Mubadala and ADIC kept their positions or made changes in response to further market weakness.