UAE Sovereign Wealth Fund Tripled BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Stake Ahead Of Crypto Crash, Says It’s Digital Gold

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) more than tripled its exposure to BlackRock’s US spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) in the third quarter, just before the crypto market crashed.

ADIC, an investment arm of Mubadala Investment Company, increased its IBIT holdings from 2.4 million shares at the start of Q3 to nearly 8 million by Sept. 30, valuing the position at about $520 million, according to a Nov. 19 report by Bloomberg.

ADIC also said it views Bitcoin as a digital equivalent to gold, the story added. 

The move underscores growing institutional adoption, with M2 treasury manager Zayed Aleem saying in a Linkedin post that it is “fantastic to see such institutional conviction.” 

ADIC Bitcoin ETF Investment Comes Amid Heightened Volatility For Crypto

ADIC’s increased exposure to BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF took place during a volatile period for the crypto market. The quarter that the sovereign wealth fund had bought more shares of the ETF ended just days before BTC soared to a new all-time high (ATH) above $126K at the start of October. 

Since reaching that peak, BTC has been in a downtrend that has not only seen it drop below the psychological $100K mark, but also lose the support of the $90K level several times in recent days. 

The crypto market leader dropped to a seven-month low in the last 24 hours and hit a daily low of $88,526.83. It has since recovered to trade up more than 2% at $92,509.54 as of 1:45 a.m. EST.

Shares for BlackRock’s US spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, dropped 2.7% in the same period and are now down more than 19% over the past month.

IBIT price (Source: Google Finance)

IBIT Suffers Record Outflows

The fund suffered its largest outflows since its debut in January 2024 on Nov. 18. Data from Farside Investors shows that investors pulled $523.2 million from the ETF that day, extending its negative flows streak to five days.

Commenting on IBIT’s record outflows, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said on X that the fund has entered an “ugly stretch.” 

Still, he highlighted that IBIT has seen “astronomical” year-to-date inflows of more than $25 billion. He added that overall US spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen $3.3 billion in outflows over the past month, only 3.5% of the products’ total assets under management (AUM). 

The trend seems to have paused in the latest trading session, as the funds broke their outflows streak with $75.4 million inflows collectively. Of this amount, IBIT accounted for the majority after $60.6 million re-entered its reserves. Grayscale’s BTC saw $53.8 million in positive flows as well.

Meanwhile, Fidelity’s FBTC suffered $21.4 million outflow while investors withdrew $17.6 million from VanEck’s HODL fund. The remaining funds recorded no new flows on the day.