The Norway sovereign wealth fund's indirect bitcoin exposure has grown 153% year-over-year to 3,821 BTC ($400 million) as of Dec. 31, 2024, according to K33 analyst Vetle Lunde, amid significant investments in MicroStrategy, Riot, MARA, Coinbase, Canaan and Metaplanet.
Norway’s central bank controls the country’s sovereign wealth fund, known as the Government Pension Fund Global. However, its management is carried out through a subsidiary, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which operates as a separate unit within the central bank under the direction of the Ministry of Finance. The GPFG is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, with over $1.5 trillion in assets, primarily invested in global equities, bonds and real estate.
Lunde’s calculations are based on the percentage of bitcoin-holding firms’ shares held by NBIM, multiplied by those firms' bitcoin treasuries. “It is important to highlight that this exposure likely derives from rule-based sector weighting rather than a deliberate choice to prioritize BTC exposure,” Lunde stated on Wednesday.
NBIM’s year-end indirect exposure to bitcoin. Image: K33.
NBIM's indirect exposure is an example of how bitcoin is slipping into well-diversified portfolios, intended or not, Lunde added, with growth testament to the market maturing.
Top of the list is MicroStrategy, with NBIM holding 0.72% of the business intelligence firm and corporate bitcoin holder’s shares, valued at $514 million as of Dec. 31, 2024, per the fund’s disclosures. This accounts for 3,214.08 BTC worth of indirect exposure, according to Lunde.
While NBIM’s MicroStrategy holdings fell from the 0.89% of shares it held as of June. 30, 2024, its stock ownership in the firm rose from approximately 1.12 million shares to 1.58 million during the same period, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Lunde said he had expected the change to be substantially lower following MicroStrategy’s “21/21 plan” targeting a total capital raise of $42 billion via equity and fixed-income securities offerings for further bitcoin acquisitions, diluting the total number of shares outstanding.
Notably, NBIM has been investing in MicroStrategy since 2009, with its value significantly increasing by more than sevenfold over the past 12 months.
NBIM MicroStrategy investment value. Image: NBIM.
The sovereign wealth fund’s 0.71% worth of bitcoin miner MARA’s shares, 1.1% of Tesla, 0.85% of Coinbase and 0.44% of Riot Platforms stock as of the end of last year have the next biggest impact on its indirect bitcoin exposure, accounting for 315.2 BTC, 106.9 BTC, 80.6 BTC and 76.7 BTC, respectively.
“While I assume that NBIM's indirect exposure is a result of sector weighting, it is very interesting to note the added exposure in Riot, and particularly Metaplanet,” Lunde said.
NBIM indirect bitcoin exposure by share holdings. Image: K33.
Corporate bitcoin treasury strategies advanced by figures such as MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor and MARA CEO Fred Thiel, among others, saw the Norwegian indirect sat per capita exposure stood at 68,837 sats ($64) by the end of 2024, Lunde added, with NBIM's indirect BTC exposure in U.S. dollar terms growing from $23 million in 2020 to $356 million in 2024.
NBIM indirect bitcoin exposure value. Image: K33.
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