UAE Revealed to Hold $700M in Bitcoin Through Mining Operations

The UAE has been identified as holding around $700 million in Bitcoin, primarily mined through domestic operations rather than asset seizures, according to blockchain analytics platform Arkham ￰0￱ said on Monday that it had traced government-linked wallets containing about 6,300 BTC, most of which were generated by Citadel Mining, a firm majority-owned by the UAE’s International Holding Company (IHC). Bitcoin Holdings Far Below Speculation For years, speculation has swirled that the UAE had quietly amassed a Bitcoin hoard of more than 420,000 BTC, worth over $46 billion, allegedly from criminal ￰1￱ new data puts those rumors to rest, painting a much smaller but still notable picture of the country’s involvement in digital assets.

Notably, unlike the ￰2￱ U. K., which accumulated much of their crypto from confiscations, the UAE’s stash comes directly from ￰3￱ estimates Citadel Mining has produced a total of 9,300 BTC since its launch in 2022, though not all of it remains in government-linked wallets ￰4￱ mining venture was built in Abu Dhabi through a partnership between Citadel, Phoenix Group—a publicly listed UAE mining company—and the ￰5￱ Mining is 85% owned by 2pointzero, itself controlled by the ￰6￱ IHC is majority-owned by the UAE Royal Group, a conglomerate chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a senior member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling ￰7￱ Joins Global Sovereign Bitcoin Holders The UAE’s current Bitcoin position places it as the world’s sixth-largest state holder, according to data from ￰8￱ sits just behind Bhutan, with 11,286 Bitcoin units , and slightly ahead of El Salvador’s 6,246 ￰9￱ ￰10￱ the top government holder, with 198,012 BTC largely from criminal seizures, followed closely by China with 194,000 and the ￰11￱ 61,245.

Altogether, sovereign states are estimated to control about 517,000 Bitcoin, equal to roughly 2.4% of the total ￰12￱ current prices, this represents more than $56 billion in state-controlled ￰13￱ comparison, Bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is still believed to hold the largest personal stash—around 1.096 million ￰14￱ the corporate side, Michael Saylor’s Strategy leads with 629,376 BTC, representing nearly 3% of all coins in circulation.