In recent years, Bitcoin has made a notable entry into the strategic reserves of certain countries and other sovereign wealth funds. This strategy has been adopted by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, which has just tripled its exposure to BTC over the past quarter.
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds reaffirm their interest in Bitcoin
Over the course of this year, Bitcoin has very clearly cemented its position as a leading asset within traditional finance. This asset class, with its international scope, is now at the center of government accumulation efforts as part of national reserves.
This strategy was implemented by Mubadala Investment Company through exposure to the IBIT Bitcoin Spot ETF from global asset management leader BlackRock, which began in the first quarter of 2024 and has been steadily increased since then.
Price of BlackRock’s IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF
However, it is more specifically its independently managed subsidiary, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), that is currently of interest to us. This entity specializes in private assets—such as buyouts, infrastructure, and real estate—and has also chosen to invest in Bitcoin as part of a long-term diversification strategy.
The organization significantly increased its exposure to BTC during the third quarter of this year, tripling its stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF from 2.4 million shares to over 8 million as of September 30, for a total value then estimated at $518 million.
Bitcoin “a store of value similar to gold”
It’s hard not to notice the challenging timing of this investment, made when BTC was trading above $100,000—just a short time before the cryptocurrency market took the full brunt of the crash on November 11, with Bitcoin now hovering around the $90,000 level.
Despite this, officials at the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) remain confident. In fact, they view this Bitcoin investment as a long-term one, in the context of a changing world that could quickly turn it into a sort of digital equivalent of gold.
We view Bitcoin as a store of value similar to gold, and as the world moves toward a more digital future, we see it playing an increasingly important role alongside gold. These two assets help diversify our portfolio, and we plan to hold them as part of our short- and long-term strategy.
ADIC Spokesperson
The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund manages approximately $330 billion in assets. This makes it one of the largest investment vehicles of its kind globally, with a stake in the BlackRock fund estimated at 8.7 million IBIT shares—worth approximately $567 million—which remained unchanged over the past quarter.
