Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest state-directed wealth fund in the world, increased its indirect Bitcoin (BTC) exposure by 192% over the last year, according to crypto research company K33 Research.
The fund has indirect exposure to 7,161 BTC through its investment portfolio, which includes treasury companies Strategy and Metaplanet and crypto exchange Coinbase.
The fund currently holds over 11.9 billion Norwegian krone ($1.2 billion) of Strategy’s stock, a 133% increase from 2024. Similarly, the fund has increased its Coinbase holdings by over 96% since 2024.
Norway’s increase in BTC holdings reflects a broader trend of sovereign wealth funds gaining indirect exposure through BTC investment vehicles and corporate proxies, as the world’s first cryptocurrency becomes integrated into the traditional financial system.
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Sovereign and state wealth funds enter crypto game through the side door
Sovereign wealth and state pension funds legally mandate managers to invest only in pre-defined asset classes such as fixed-income securities, corporate bonds, equities and others.
Because of these restrictions, fund managers who want to invest in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies must gain indirect exposure through an investment vehicle like an exchange-traded fund (ETF), a corporate bond or a company proxy like Strategy.
The State of Wisconsin State Investment Board (SWIB), the organization that manages the US state’s pension system, was one of the first state-level pension funds in the country to disclose indirect Bitcoin exposure through a $164 million investment into BTC ETFs.
In February, SWIB disclosed that its BTC holdings nearly doubled, surging to over $321 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
The pension manager sold off BTC holdings in May but retained a $50 million position in BTC proxy Strategy.
Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund announced in July that it plans to convert a portion of its assets to crypto.
Timur Suleimenov, head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, said the prospective move is intended to generate more investment income for the wealth fund, and the government is also exploring converting other assets like gold and foreign currency reserves to crypto.
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