The Government Pension Fund Global, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), has significantly expanded its investments with ties to Bitcoin during the current year.
On August 12th, Vetle Lunde, a top-level analyst at K33 Research, announced a substantial increase in the fund’s indirect exposure to Bitcoin. Year-on-year, this exposure has risen by a massive 192%, bringing the total to approximately 7,161 BTC, equivalent to about $844 million. This is up from the 3821 BTC reported at the close of 2024.
Notably, this surge indicates an addition of 3,340 BTC to NBIM’s portfolio during the first six months of 2025 alone.
Lunde attributed this significant growth to larger holdings in key treasury management instruments, specifically Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), and the Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital. This is in conjunction with general robust Bitcoin accumulation across various major treasury holders.
A closer look at the factors contributing to this growth shows that Strategy, known as the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, played the most significant role, adding approximately 3,005.5 BTC to NBIM’s indirect Bitcoin holdings.
Marathon Digital, a major Bitcoin miner, accounted for an additional 216.4 BTC, while Block contributed 85.1 BTC. Coinbase, a premier US-based cryptocurrency exchange, and Metaplanet, headquartered in Japan, completed the top five, adding 57.2 BTC and 50.8 BTC respectively.
Other entities, including GameStop (GME), Tesla, Mercado Libre, Jasmine, Virtu, and WeMade, contributed smaller portions, each adding less than 35 BTC.
Lunde suggests this trend underscores the increasing integration of Bitcoin within diverse investment portfolios, whether deliberately or as an indirect effect of equity investments in businesses heavily involved with Bitcoin.