Sovereign whales treat $BTC's discount aisle like Black Friday, and they're filling carts

Sovereign wealth funds have been accumulating spot Bitcoin at current price levels, viewing the market as an attractive entry point for institutional capital, according to MidChains CEO Basil Al Askari. Speaking on Cointelegraph's "Chain Reaction" podcast on Monday, Al Askari said retail participation in crypto has slowed while institutional and corporate activity has moved in the opposite direction. "I would be able to confirm that one, at least one, and possibly in the coming weeks, two sovereign wealth funds have been accumulating spot Bitcoin specifically," he said.

Al Askari, who heads MidChains, a regulated crypto trading platform focused on retail and institutions based in Abu Dhabi, said the prevailing price range is widely viewed as an "entry level for a lot of those mega funds" prepared to accumulate over extended time horizons. Sovereign wealth funds collectively manage more than $13 trillion in assets globally. He added that the immediate market impact is unlikely to be a sudden price surge, but the accumulation sends "a very clear signal" to other institutions watching the leaders for cues on how to "experiment and start to get involved" with Bitcoin.

On the longer-term supply picture, Al Askari said Bitcoin is likely to become "more and more scarce as a result of larger holders with much longer time horizons on their holding periods as far as looking at investments." State-level involvement is not new: Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company invested $437 million in BTC through BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in February 2025, and Bhutan's Druk Holding and Investments remains one of the earliest and most direct sovereign holders, though it has trimmed some holdings this year.

Institutional appetite for the dip was echoed by Coinbase's head of institutional strategy, John D'Agostino, who told CNBC earlier this month that the price weakness is being welcomed by larger investors. "I just got off a plane from the Middle East, and I can tell you that the family offices in the UAE and the government and sovereign funds that are putting the effort into buying this asset class are not unhappy at being able to buy it at a discount," D'Agostino said.

The broader market backdrop remains mixed, with US spot BTC exchange-traded funds recording sustained outflows exceeding $4.1 billion so far this month. Corporate treasuries, led by Strategy, which has acquired 3,657 BTC this month, continue to add to their positions.