TLDR
- Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala raised its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF stake 16% to 14.7 million shares worth $566 million in Q1 2026
- Mubadala has added to its position every quarter since Q4 2024, starting from $436 million
- Harvard cut its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF holdings by 43% and fully exited its BlackRock Ethereum ETF
- Dartmouth College disclosed a $3.67 million position in a Bitwise Solana staking ETF
- Barclays disclosed 4.46 million Bitcoin ETF shares, while Hong Kong’s Laurore trimmed its stake by 22%
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company increased its stake in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust by 16% in the first quarter of 2026, according to new SEC filings. The sovereign wealth fund now holds 14.7 million shares valued at approximately $566 million.
🇦🇪Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala added over $90M to its Bitcoin ETF position, while the Abu Dhabi Investment Council held 8.2M IBIT shares steady through the Q1 drawdown. pic.twitter.com/8zGHsf2Ilb
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) May 16, 2026
The Q1 2026 figure represents a continued rise in the number of shares held, even though the dollar value slipped slightly from $630.6 million at the end of 2025. That gap reflects a drop in Bitcoin’s price from its late-2025 highs rather than any reduction in the fund’s commitment.
Mubadala’s Quarter-by-Quarter Bitcoin Buildup
Mubadala first disclosed a Bitcoin ETF position in Q4 2024 at around $436 million. That dipped in portfolio value terms to $408.5 million in Q1 2025 as Bitcoin prices adjusted, then surged to $630.6 million by December 31, 2025, when Bitcoin crossed $100,000.
The fund has added to its position in every single reporting period since then. That five-quarter streak of accumulation points to a deliberate, long-term strategy rather than short-term opportunism.
Mubadala is not alone among Abu Dhabi institutions. Al Warda Investments, affiliated with the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, separately held 8.2 million BlackRock Bitcoin ETF shares worth around $408 million as of Q4 2025. Combined, Abu Dhabi-linked sovereign entities held more than $1 billion in the ETF by end of last year.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Council also tripled its own Bitcoin ETF stake in Q3 2025, one of the largest single-quarter expansions recorded among sovereign buyers.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust remains the largest spot Bitcoin ETF in the world, holding over 600,000 Bitcoin as of April 2026. That is roughly three times the amount held by second-place Fidelity.
Norway’s Norges Bank has also appeared in recent 13-F filings as a holder, reinforcing the ETF’s status as the go-to entry point for nation-state-level Bitcoin exposure.
Harvard Cuts, Dartmouth Enters Solana
Not every institution followed the same path. Harvard University cut its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF holdings by 43% to 3.04 million shares. The university also fully exited its $86.8 million position in BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF.
Dartmouth College moved in the opposite direction. The Ivy League school disclosed one of the first known institutional endowment positions in a Solana ETF, purchasing $3.67 million of the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF.
Barclays disclosed a position of 4.46 million BlackRock Bitcoin ETF shares alongside put and call options. Hong Kong-based Laurore trimmed its own stake by 22%.
The Q1 2026 13-F filings paint a picture of growing divergence among institutional crypto holders. Sovereign wealth funds, particularly from the Gulf, are adding exposure steadily, while some university endowments are pulling back.
Mubadala’s consistent accumulation across five consecutive quarters stands out as one of the clearest long-term institutional commitments to Bitcoin among any government-backed fund globally.
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