Arkham Intelligence says bitcoin mining operations linked to the UAE’s Royal Group are sitting on about $344 million in unearned profits, excluding energy costs.
Arkham revealed that approximately 6,782 BTC were deposited into wallets linked to a mining activity linked to the UAE monarchy, valuing the assets at approximately $453.6 million at the time of analysis. The company said the stated profit reflects the difference between current bitcoin prices and estimated production costs, although it noted that this figure does not include electricity and operating costs.
Arkham’s onchain data also points to a steady pace of mining output.
Over the past seven days, wallets linked to the UAE have generated around 4.2 BTC per day, suggesting the industry’s continued performance. The analytics company added that the UAE appears to be retaining most of its bitcoin mining, with the last recorded withdrawal from the funds occurring around four months ago.
The findings underscore that the UAE has followed a different path than many other governments with large bitcoin holdings.
While countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom hold significant reserves that are heavily tied to law enforcement seizures, Arkham said the UAE’s accumulation is driven mainly by domestic mining.
The UAE’s mining push dates back to 2022, when Citadel Mining, a business linked to Abu Dhabi’s royal family, is establishing major operations on Al Reem Island. The same year marked a regional-wide effort to attract digital asset infrastructure, backed by funding from government-linked firms.
In 2023, Marathon Digital Holdings and Abu Dhabi-based Zero Two announced a partnership aimed at developing 250 megawatts of submersible bitcoin mining capacity in the UAE. The project was one of the largest exposed industrial mining deployments in the region, reflecting the country’s ambitions to become a hub for crypto infrastructure.
Arkham said their latest estimate is an update to previous projections from August 2025, when the company said around $700 million was mined for bitcoin in the UAE during peak prices. At the time, Arkham estimated that the country had about 9,300 BTC mines and held about 6,300 BTC, placing it among the top independent organizations with proven onchain holdings.
Under the revised figures, UAE Holdings represents about 0.03% of the total bitcoin capital, according to Arkham.
Exposure to the Abu Dhabi Bitcoin ETF
Abu Dhabi’s private equity funds are also getting in on the fun. This week they disclosed a significant increase in their exposure to BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), reporting ownership of 12.7 million shares worth approximately $630.6 million as of Dec. 31. That marks a 46% jump from the 8.7 million shares previously reported at the end of September.
Mubadala, which oversees a global portfolio of technology, healthcare, infrastructure, private equity, and public markets, has more than $330 billion in assets. Its mandate is to generate long-term returns for the Abu Dhabi government while supporting economic diversification beyond oil.
Another Abu Dhabi-based company, Al Warda Investments, also raised its IBIT position in Q4 2025 to 8.22 million shares, from 7.96 million in Q3, continuing the shift to public ETF exposure to bitcoin that began at the beginning of the year.
Al Warda, which is part of the Abu Dhabi Investment Council under Mubadala, has traditionally focused on private investment, making its growing stake in IBIT notable in the region. Together, Abu Dhabi’s investment vehicles held more than 20 million IBIT shares at the end of last year, with a combined value of more than $1.1 billion.
Arkham noted that the United States remains the largest private holder of bitcoin, with approximately 328,000 BTC worth $22 billion, primarily from seizures tied to cases such as the Bitfinex hack and Silk Road investigations.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading below $66,000.
