Arkham: $740 Million Worth of Bitcoin Holdings in the UAE Identified, Primarily Mined by Citadel

According to ChainCatcher, Arkham announced on social media that addresses related to the United Arab Emirates have now been tagged.

Bitcoin holdings worth $700 million from the UAE have been labeled on the platform. These holdings originate from Citadel’s Bitcoin mining operations—a publicly listed mining company controlled by the UAE’s Royal Group through International Holding Company (IHC).

Arkham stated that the UAE is the fourth largest government entity holding Bitcoin on the platform, with total BTC holdings valued at nearly $740 million. Unlike the United States and the United Kingdom, the UAE’s Bitcoin was not acquired through police asset seizures, but rather generated via mining operations in partnership with Citadel. To date, approximately 9,300 BTC have been mined, with at least about 6,300 BTC still held.

85% of Citadel is owned by 2pointzero, which is itself 100% owned by IHC. Around 61% of IHC is held by the UAE Royal Group, which is controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family.

Through collaboration with Phoenix Group (a publicly listed mining company in the UAE) and the government-owned IHC, Citadel built an 80,000-square-meter Bitcoin mining farm on Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi, in just six months in 2022. Satellite time-lapse imagery of the mining farm’s construction aligns with the on-chain mining activity timeline. On-chain transactions between Phoenix Group and Citadel also match the amounts officially disclosed. Phoenix Group has also been tagged on the platform, with BTC holdings valued at $3.2 million.