The UAE’s Bitcoin mining operations is catching global attention gradually. In a fresh development, Arkham Intelligence claimed that the Middle Eastern nation has mined $453 million worth of BTC in recent times in partnership with Citadel Mining.
Arkham, the on-chain intelligence firm, published an update on Thursday claiming that the UAE is currently in profit of $344M on the Bitcoin that it has mined. This amount excludes the cost of power required to fuel the advanced computers that enable BTC mining.
The development comes at a time when BTC is trading at its yearly low price brackets of $66,000-$70,000 presently.
The UAE has been working with Citadel Mining to facilitate operations since 2022. A publicly traded company, Citadel is majorly held by UAE’s International Holding Company (IHC) that is linked to the Abu Dhabi Royal Family.
Citadel Mining, a publicly traded mining firm that is mostly owned by the International Holding Company (IHC) of the United Arab Emirates, which has ties to the Abu Dhabi royal family through Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s UAE Royal Group, is responsible for mining the Bitcoin.
In August last year, Arkham had credited the UAE of owing about 6,300 BTC at the time that were worth $700 million at the time. Arkham had, at the time, also highlighted that UAE’s BTC holding strategi differs from the U.S. as it mines its BTC holdings rather than accumulating tokens seized during criminal investigation.
As of now, the UAE has not disclosed its exact BTC holdings on public domains.
As per reports, the UAE is among a handful of nations that is establishing a strong foothold in the BTC mining sector, that is often criticised for its energy-intensive nature that poses threat to the nature as well as obstruct power distribution in areas close to mining clusters.
The UAE is now taking efforts to regulate mining practices within its region. Last year, for instance, it levied a fine of AED 100,000 for the use of agricultural land for cryptocurrency mining. The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), in October 2025 said, anybody found providing or using an agricultural and for BTC mining would face confiscation of the expensive mining equipment and disconnection from the electrical grid.
Meanwhile, mining-related developments are also constantly making it to the headlines in the UAE. In November, for instance, UAE-based telco Du unveiled a cloud-based platform dubbed “Cloud Miner” to let users mine BTC through their smartphones.