UAE emerges as 4th largest government Bitcoin holder with $712 million stash
Citadel Mining’s Abu Dhabi facility produced over 9,000 Bitcoin since 2022
ABU DHABI – The United Arab Emirates has entered the top tier of state Bitcoin holders, with blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence confirming that the country controls around 6,333 BTC, valued at approximately $712 million.
This makes the UAE the fourth-largest government Bitcoin holder on Arkham’s platform, behind the United States, China, and the United Kingdom.
Unlike other governments that obtained Bitcoin through asset seizures, the UAE accumulated its reserve by directly mining through Citadel Mining, a company majority-owned by Abu Dhabi’s Royal Group via International Holding Company (IHC). The mining-first approach sets the Emirates apart from other state players and underscores its long-term strategy in digital assets.
Bitcoin mining
According to Arkham, Citadel Mining has produced roughly 9,300 Bitcoin since beginning operations in 2022. Of this total, more than 6,300 BTC remain in government-linked wallets.
BREAKING: THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES IS NOW ON ARKHAM
— Arkham (@arkham) August 25, 2025
The UAE’s $700M BTC holdings are now labeled on Arkham. These holdings come from Bitcoin mining operations carried out by Citadel, a public mining company majority owned by UAE Royal Group through IHC.
Arkham is the first to… pic.twitter.com/eIGut5pJXN
The blockchain firm said it was the first to publicly identify these addresses, matching on-chain transactions with company disclosures and satellite imagery of the mining site.
The 80,000-square-metre facility on Al Reem Island in Abu Dhabi was constructed in just six months in 2022. Built in collaboration with Phoenix Group and IHC, the site’s operations were later verified through a combination of blockchain activity and satellite evidence. Phoenix Group itself revealed a smaller Bitcoin holding of $3.2 million during its Q2 results.
How is it owned?
Citadel Mining is 85 percent controlled by 2pointzero, a company fully owned by IHC. IHC is in turn majority-owned by Royal Group, a powerful Abu Dhabi conglomerate chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. This layered ownership structure directly links the mining operations—and their Bitcoin output—to the Emirati state.
Where does UAE rank?
The UAE’s 6,333 BTC places it just below the United States, which holds 198,021 BTC, China with 190,000 BTC, and the United Kingdom with 61,245 BTC. It has already surpassed El Salvador, which despite its Bitcoin-as-legal-tender policy, holds 6,246 BTC valued at around $688 million.
Data from BitcoinTreasuries.net shows that twelve governments collectively hold more than 526,000 BTC, worth over $59 billion at current prices. By entering this group through mining rather than acquisitions, the UAE joins a very small circle of sovereign players using energy resources to generate digital reserves.