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 as bitcoin BTC$91,748.25 headed toward October's record high.

The 230% increase took 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.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council is a subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Co., one of the emirate's primary sovereign-wealth groups. The disclosure provides insights into the council's approach to digital assets, because it typically focuses on private market strategies such as buyouts, 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," a spokesperson for ADIC told Bloomberg. "Both assets contribute to diversifying our portfolio, and we expect to hold them as part of our near and long term strategy."

The move, which occurred just before bitcoin hit a record high near $126,000 in early October and then slid 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 equal to about 20% of its reported U.S. listed public equity holdings.

The 30% decline in bitcoin's price from its peak has hit interest in exchange-traded funds. On Nov. 18, IBIT experienced its biggest single day outflow since the product launched in January 2024. On Wednesday, it recorded the first net inflow since Nov. 11.