Norway's Trillion-Dollar Oil Fund and the US Vanguard Group Now Indirectly Hold $100 Million in Bitcoin

Last month, a bright light ignited the Bitcoin world with news that Virginia-based business intelligence and software company MicroStrategy was buying large amounts of Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.

MicroStrategy, which has a market value of $1.4 billion, bought more than 21,000 bitcoins for $250 million in August and last week bought another 16,800 bitcoin tokens for $175 million to supplement its investment.

As a result, some of MicroStrategy’s largest investors, including Norway’s $1 trillion oil fund and major asset manager BlackRock BLK, as well as Vanguard, have indirect exposure to Bitcoin, with their combined holdings valued at around $100 million.

“Through its ownership in MicroStrategy (1.51% as of December 31, 2019), the Norwegian Government Pension Fund now indirectly holds 577.6 bitcoins,” wrote Vetle Lunde, an analyst at Arcane Research, an Oslo-based bitcoin and crypto intelligence firm, adding: The Norwegian Oil Fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund with over $1 trillion in assets, also has indirect bitcoin exposure through a 1.4% stake in its global stocks and shares.”

Arcane Research’s analysis also shows that major U.S. asset managers BlackRock and Vanguard, which hold 15.2% and 11.7% of MicroStrategy’s shares respectively, have indirectly acquired more than 10,000 Bitcoins between them.

However, Vetle Lunde also said that the fund is keen on the oil fund’s investment in Bitcoin, noting its lack of exposure to gold.

“It’s a long way to go to get direct exposure to bitcoin from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund,” said Vetle Lunde. The fund is in equities, fixed income and real estate and currently does not hold gold, for example. However, the fund invests in gold mining companies such as Newmont Goldcorp Corp, in which it holds a 0.95% stake.

Vetle Lunde believes that Norway’s oil fund has the potential to gain more Bitcoin exposure if other companies follow Microstrategy’s lead and put Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

Meanwhile, bitcoin traders and investors are nervously watching the price of bitcoin, which is once again approaching the psychologically important $10,000 mark.