Bitcoin ETFs bleed cash as Abu Dhabi doubles down

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded $523 million in net outflows on Tuesday, its most significant single-day withdrawal since launching in January 2024.

The fund has now posted five consecutive days of outflows totaling $1.43 billion, contributing to four straight weeks of withdrawals amounting to $2.19 billion. The accelerating outflows coincide with Bitcoin’s drop below $90,000, extending a steep decline from its early-October all-time high near $126,000.

The update, courtesy of SoSoValue data, comes on the heels of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund increasing its Bitcoin exposure just before the crypto market downturn.

Sovereign wealth and crypto don’t often mix, but that’s changing fast. Gulf-region funds, in particular, are increasingly allocating to digital assets as part of long-term diversification plays. Yet, new filings show that the crypto volatility remains a significant risk.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Council significantly increased its Bitcoin exposure in Q3, just before the Bitcoin (BTC) crash. Specifically, the fund acquired nearly 8 million shares of BlackRock Inc.’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF on September 30, according to disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This purchase alone was worth about $518 million at the time, and it tripled its Bitcoin exposure. Just three months earlier, the fund held 2.4 million shares of the Bitcoin ETF. In a separate disclosure, the Mubadala fund stated that it owned 8.7 million shares of the IBIT ETF, valued at $567 million.

Abu Dhabi won’t back down on Bitcoin

Following this purchase, Bitcoin rallied to its all-time high of $126,198 on October 6. Shortly after, Bitcoin saw a major correction and is currently trading at $92,015. Yet, despite the crash, Abu Dhabi Investment Council stated it’s not backing down from its strategy.