Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham said the United Arab Emirates, through Abu Dhabi royal-linked Citadel Mining, has mined about 6,790 BTC. At current prices, that holding is worth roughly $460 million, with about $340 million in unrealized book profit before energy costs. Arkham’s data also suggests the coins have largely been kept on hand rather than sold. Based on a seven-day average, the related mining operation is still producing around 4.2 BTC per day.
CZ reposts the report and hints at past advocacy
One day after the data circulated, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao reposted the news on X and wrote, “I may have done a little bit of advocacy for this 😆”. He did not say what specific effort he meant. The timeline cited in the source is notable: CZ moved his primary residence to Dubai in 2021 and, during his time as Binance CEO, maintained frequent contact with officials in multiple countries.
The source says Citadel Mining built a large-scale mining site on Al Reem Island in 2022. In 2023, Marathon Digital, now renamed MARA Holdings, formed a joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based Zero Two to develop 250 megawatts of immersion-cooled mining capacity in the UAE, one of the region’s largest publicly disclosed deployments.
Sovereign funds added to IBIT positions
The country’s Bitcoin exposure extends beyond mining. According to a U.S. SEC 13F filing disclosed on February 17, two Abu Dhabi sovereign funds increased their holdings of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, during the fourth quarter of 2025.
Mubadala Investment Company held 12.7 million shares of IBIT, up from about 8.7 million in the third quarter, an increase of nearly 4 million shares. Al Warda Investments held 8.21 million shares, slightly above its 7.96 million-share position in the prior quarter. The report said the two entities together held more than $1 billion in Bitcoin ETF exposure by the end of 2025. It also said Mubadala first bought IBIT in late 2024 and kept adding afterward.
Bitcoin classified as a store of value similar to gold
The report states that the UAE government has formally described Bitcoin as “a store of value similar to gold.” That characterization carries policy weight. In the country’s regulatory framing, Bitcoin is treated as a long-term reserve asset rather than only a speculative instrument.
Combining mined BTC with ETF holdings, the UAE’s total Bitcoin exposure now exceeds $1 billion. The report draws a distinction here: this exposure comes from deliberate allocation decisions, not from seized assets.