Norway’s sovereign fund reaches record 11,549 BTC exposure without buying more Bitcoin

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund ended the first half of 2026 with record indirect Bitcoin exposure and a newly disclosed stake in the world’s largest Ethereum treasury company.

Norges Bank Investment Management’s (NBIM) public-equity holdings translated into 11,549 BTC of indirect exposure as of June 30, up 60% from a year earlier and marking the sixth consecutive reporting period of growth, K33 Research data showed.

The exposure was worth about 6.7 billion kroner, or $676 million, at the end of the period.

NBIM’s indirect Bitcoin exposure rose to 11,549 BTC by June 2026, up from 9,530 BTC at year-end 2025. (Source: K33 Research)

The increase has largely come through listed companies that hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, rather than through purchases made by the sovereign fund itself.

That distinction is central to understanding the trend.

Norges Bank, Norway’s central bank, manages the Government Pension Fund Global under a mandate set by the Ministry of Finance. NBIM manages the portfolio, but limits set by the ministry and Norges Bank’s Executive Board tightly constrain its ability to deviate from the fund’s benchmark.

As a result, much of the fund’s exposure reflects the composition of global public markets rather than discretionary bets on individual companies or assets.

As of June 30, the fund managed 22.68 trillion kroner, with 72.1% invested in equities totaling 16.36 trillion kroner, which returned 12.95% during the first half. The equities helped the overall fund return 9.4% and beat its benchmark by 0.22%.

The scale of that portfolio is also significant. NBIM owns stakes in roughly 7,200 companies and about 1.5% of the world’s listed equities on average, meaning companies such as Strategy increasingly bring Bitcoin exposure into the fund simply by becoming meaningful components of global stock markets.

K33 said this broad-market effect is the most likely explanation for NBIM’s steadily rising indirect exposure.

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Strategy remains the dominant source of NBIM’s indirect Bitcoin exposure, accounting for nearly all of the increase recorded during the first half of 2026.

K33 estimated that NBIM’s Strategy stake translated into 9,914 BTC-equivalent at the end of June, or 85.8% of its total indirect exposure, up from 7,801 BTC at the end of 2025.

Strategy accounted for 9,914 BTC, or 85.8% of the top five companies’ Bitcoin holdings in the first half of 2026. (Source: K33 Research)

The increase of roughly 2,113 BTC through Strategy alone exceeded the approximately 2,019 BTC net increase across NBIM’s entire portfolio during the period. That means reductions in exposure through some other holdings partially offset the effect of Strategy’s continued Bitcoin accumulation.

Metaplanet was a distant second at 671 BTC-equivalent, followed by MARA Holdings with 421 BTC, Coinbase with 183 BTC and Block with 120 BTC. Tesla, GameStop, Galaxy Digital, Bullish and several smaller positions accounted for most of the remainder.

Meanwhile, the concentration in Strategy has accompanied a rapid expansion in NBIM’s overall indirect Bitcoin exposure.

K33 estimated that the figure stood at just 1,507 BTC at the end of 2023 before rising to 2,446 BTC by June 2024, 3,839 BTC at year-end, 7,194 BTC in June 2025, 9,530 BTC at the end of 2025 and 11,549 BTC six months later.

Norway Sovereign Fund's Indirect Bitcoin Exposure

However, the growing amount of Bitcoin in those holdings has not translated into a larger share of NBIM’s portfolio.

Bitcoin-linked exposure fell to about 0.03% of total assets at the end of June from 0.04% at year-end 2025, while its estimated value declined from 8.41 billion kroner to 6.69 billion kroner.

The divergence reflects the difference between Bitcoin-equivalent exposure and the market value of the stocks providing it.

Companies such as Strategy continued accumulating Bitcoin, increasing the amount of BTC sitting behind NBIM’s equity holdings, even as falling crypto prices pushed down the value of those companies and Bitcoin itself. Bitcoin has declined nearly 30% this year, while Strategy shares have fallen about 40%.

NBIM ended the period with more Bitcoin embedded in its portfolio but less money tied to that exposure. The fund’s indirect BTC position grew because the companies it owns accumulated more Bitcoin.

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A similar dynamic is now emerging on the Ethereum side through NBIM’s newly disclosed stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies.

The Norwegian fund held 6,151,062 BitMine shares worth $81.87 million at the end of June, after reporting no position in the company at year-end 2025. The filing does not show exactly when NBIM established the stake or the price it paid.

BitMine, meanwhile, held 5.70 million ETH as of June 28, equivalent to about 4.7% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, along with 206 BTC, cash, and other investments. The company has built the largest corporate Ethereum treasury and ranks behind only Strategy among publicly traded crypto treasury companies by digital-asset holdings.

That makes BitMine another route through which crypto exposure is entering NBIM’s equity portfolio without the fund buying the underlying asset directly.

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Unlike K33’s Bitcoin-equivalent calculation, the value of NBIM’s BitMine position cannot be treated as a simple proxy for an equivalent amount of ETH. BitMine’s shares reflect not only its Ethereum holdings but also its cash, other assets, liabilities, staking income, and the premium or discount investors assign to the company relative to its treasury.

Still, the broader pattern is the same. NBIM’s exposure to both Bitcoin and Ethereum is increasingly being shaped by the balance sheets of publicly listed companies it already owns.

That shows how the growth of corporate crypto treasuries is embedding Bitcoin and Ethereum exposure deeper into diversified global equity portfolios, even when the underlying investor never buys crypto directly.

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