Alamy/Elnur Amikishiyev via Reuters Connect
- 8m shares acquired in Q4
- Move follows 86% rise in bitcoin
- Increased confidence in crypto
Mubadala has invested $436 million in BlackRock’s bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund acquired 8.2 million shares in the iShares bitcoin ETF during the fourth quarter of 2024, according to Mubadala’s latest filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
iShares, managed by BlackRock, is one of the world’s largest providers of ETFs. Its bitcoin fund is tied to the price of the cryptocurrency, which has risen by more than 86 percent in the past 12 months to reach just over $96,000 per coin.
Bitcoin’s price soared by more than 40 percent after Donald Trump’s re-election in November, apparently driven by his promises to protect the right to own bitcoin and promote innovation in the blockchain sector.
Mubadala is one of several asset managers that have invested in US bitcoin ETFs for the first time – or increased their exposure – suggesting increasing confidence in cryptocurrency as an asset.
Eric Trump, the US president’s third child, told a conference in Abu Dhabi in December that his father was planning to make the US the “crypto capital of the world”.
Eric Trump also told delegates he was “confident” that bitcoin would hit $1 million.
