The Abu Dhabi Investment Council nearly tripled its exposure to Bitcoin in the third quarter through Blackrock’s Spot Bitcoin fund, according to a recent report.
Many market participants saw this as a sign that institutional interest in crypto is still gaining momentum in the United Arab Emirates.
ADIC, an investment arm of Mubala Investment Company, said Bloomberg on Wednesday sees Bitcoin (BTC) as the equivalent of digital gold.
ADIC’s spike comes at a volatile time for Bitcoin. The quarter ended a few days before BTC climbed to an all-time high of $125,100 on October 5, before falling back below $90,000 on Wednesday.
Ibit fell since the end of the third quarter
Bloomberg reported that ADIC increased its holdings of Ibit from 2.4 million shares at the start of Q3 to nearly 8 million as of Sept. 30, valuing the position at around $520 million. Ibit closed the quarter at $65 per share and rose to $71 on October 6, the day after Bitcoin hit an all-time high.
However, Bitcoin’s recent plunge below $100,000 has also dragged the peg lower as well. The ETF closed Wednesday at $50.71, down around 23% from the end of the third quarter.
Despite the drop in Bitcoin’s price, the rise in ADIC stock was widely read as a sign of wider institutional adoption.
Crypto Investment Platform M2 Treasury Manager, Zayed Aleem, said In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday it was “amazing to see such institutional conviction and another strong signal that the UAE is earning its place as a global hub for digital assets.”
Echoing a similar sentiment, crypto commentator MartyParty said that “the position reflects a strategic bet on BTC’s role as a store of value.”
The news comes just a day after Ibit experienced its most significant daily inflow since its January 2024 launch, amounting to $523.2 million, according Farther, in the middle Bitcoin briefly fell to $ 88,000. At the time of publication, Bitcoin is trading at $92,089, according on CoinmarketCap.
Ibit is having an “ugly stretch,” ETF analyst says
ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said It was on Wednesday that the IBIT ETF was having an “ugly stretch.”
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“Although YTD flows are at an astronomical +$ 25B (6th overall). All told $ 3.3B in total flows last month from the BTC ETF, which is 3.5% of AUM,” said Balchunas.
Since iBit launched in January 2024, it has posted nearly $63.12 million in net inflows, according in the distance.
Analysts are divided on where Bitcoin is going the rest of the year. Bitcoin analyst Victor recently said that the current drawdown is “The Close Your Eyes and Bid Kind of Range.”
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