Norway’s 1.7T Giant Doubles Down on Bitcoin

The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund just juiced its BTC exposure by 83% — without holding a single coin.

⚡ Quick Hits

• 💰 Fund: Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM)
• 🏦 Assets: 1.7 trillion (world’s largest sovereign wealth fund)
• 📈 Bitcoin exposure Q2 2025: 11,400 BTC (up from 6,200 BTC)
• 🔺 Growth: +83% in one quarter
• 🎯 Main vehicles: MicroStrategy (MSTR) & Metaplanet
• 🇯🇵 Metaplanet = “Japan’s MicroStrategy,” adds 200 BTC

🏔️ Norway’s Quiet Bitcoin Play

Forget mining rigs and cold wallets. NBIM — Norway’s sovereign wealth behemoth — doesn’t hold Bitcoin directly.

Instead, it sneaks in through the backdoor: buying shares in corporate Bitcoin vaults. The bulk of its exposure comes from MicroStrategy, with a bonus 200 BTC proxy via Metaplanet.

By the end of Q2 2025, that meant 11,400 BTC in effective holdings — a near-doubling from Q1.

🧐 Standard Chartered Spills the Tea

The numbers come courtesy of Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick, who dug through SEC 13F filings. His verdict:

“The key point here is that Norges uses MSTR (MicroStrategy) as a direct means of accessing Bitcoin. An 83% increase in one quarter demonstrates a proactive position.”

Translation: Norway isn’t just dipping toes. It’s sprinting into Bitcoin exposure — but with regulatory cover.

🎭 Why It Matters

For a fund famous for being risk-averse and ultra-conservative, this move is a big vibe shift:

• 🪙 Crypto exposure without custody risk
• 🏦 Fits neatly inside traditional compliance frameworks
• 🌍 Signals sovereign funds are warming up to BTC as a long-term asset

If the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund is pulling this move, you can bet others are watching — and taking notes.

🔮 Bigger Picture

This isn’t about day-trading or short-term hype. It’s about Bitcoin creeping into the highest levels of global capital management.

• Institutional adoption is no longer theory — it’s happening.
• Corporate proxies like MicroStrategy and Metaplanet are gateways.
• Sovereign wealth funds may not hodl keys, but they want the gains.

Norway just gave BTC a mainstream stamp of approval — without touching a Satoshi.

TL;DR

• 🏦 Norway’s 1.7T NBIM boosted Bitcoin exposure by 83% in Q2 2025
• 💡 Doesn’t hold BTC directly — uses MicroStrategy & Metaplanet shares
• 📊 Current exposure: 11,400 BTC (up from 6,200 BTC)
• 🧐 Strategy = cautious, compliant, but forward-looking
• 🌍 Signals a sovereign-scale embrace of Bitcoin