Norway's Sovereign Fund Hit Record Bitcoin Exposure Without Buying Any

Norway's $2.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund held a record 11,549 BTC in indirect bitcoin exposure at the end of the first half of 2026, according to K33 Research, marking the sixth consecutive reporting period of growth and the fund's first time in five-digit BTC territory.

Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the Government Pension Fund Global on behalf of Norway's Ministry of Finance, holds no bitcoin directly. K33's methodology instead multiplies NBIM's ownership stake in any publicly traded company holding bitcoin on its balance sheet by that company's BTC holdings, then sums the result across the fund's entire equity portfolio. Exposure rose 21.2% during the first half of 2026 and 60.5% over the trailing twelve months, valued at roughly $725 million. Strategy alone accounted for 9,914 BTC-equivalent — 85.8% of NBIM's total exposure — up from 7,801 BTC at the end of 2025, an increase that on its own exceeded the fund's entire net portfolio-wide gain for the period, meaning reductions elsewhere partially offset Strategy's continued pull. Metaplanet ranked a distant second at 671 BTC-equivalent, followed by MARA Holdings, Coinbase, and Block. Despite the record dollar figure, bitcoin-linked holdings still represent just 0.03% of NBIM's total assets under management, down from 0.04% at the end of 2025, since the fund's overall assets have grown faster than its bitcoin-linked exposure.