According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) holds roughly $700 million in Bitcoin, largely accumulated through mining activities.
In an X post on Monday, Arkham revealed that it had identified government-linked wallet addresses containing about 6,300 BTC. The Bitcoin was mined via Citadel Mining, a company majority-owned by the UAE’s state-run conglomerate, International Holding Company (IHC).
“Unlike the US and UK, where government Bitcoin holdings typically stem from law enforcement seizures, the UAE’s reserves come from mining operations through Citadel Mining,” Arkham noted.
The disclosed Bitcoin reserves are significantly smaller than earlier speculation, which often suggested the UAE controlled around 420,000 BTC — worth about $46 billion — amassed through criminal seizures. Such a figure would have positioned the Emirates as the world’s largest state holder of Bitcoin.
UAE mining company linked to the royal family
Arkham reported that in partnership with Phoenix Group, a publicly listed UAE mining firm, and IHC, Citadel established a Bitcoin mining facility in Abu Dhabi in 2022.
“We confirmed the timeline of on-chain mining activity using time-lapse satellite imagery of the facility’s construction,” Arkham stated.
The firm added that “on-chain transactions between Phoenix and Citadel align with amounts disclosed in official filings.”
Arkham estimates that Citadel has mined a total of 9,300 BTC to date. Citadel Mining is 85% owned by 2pointzero, a subsidiary of IHC, in which the UAE Royal Group — controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi’s royal family — holds a 61% stake.
How the UAE compares with other countries
With its newly disclosed reserves, the UAE ranks as the world’s sixth-largest national Bitcoin holder, placing behind Bhutan’s 11,286 BTC and just ahead of El Salvador’s 6,246 BTC, according to BitBo.
The United States remains the largest sovereign holder with 198,012 BTC, primarily obtained through criminal seizures. China follows closely with 194,000 BTC, largely from its 2019 crackdown on the PlusToken scheme, while the United Kingdom holds third place with 61,245 BTC.
BitBo estimates that sovereign entities collectively hold around 517,000 Bitcoin — roughly 2.4% of the total supply — valued at more than $56 billion.
By comparison, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, is believed to control about 1.096 million BTC spread across thousands of wallets, according to Arkham, making them the single largest holder. On the corporate side, Michael Saylor’s company, MicroStrategy, leads with a treasury of 629,376 BTC, representing 2.9% of the supply — a figure that continues to grow.
