Norway’s Central Bank’s now owns MicroStrategy shares

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), has disclosed that it owns over $500 billion worth of MicroStrategy (MSTR) equities. The fund also recently revealed its 2024 investment returns, collecting heavy profits from the US tech stock markets.

Per the wealth firm’s records, as of the end of 2024, its total MSTR shares were valued at approximately $514 billion. NBIM has also made several investments into other Bitcoin-affiliated companies, such as MetaPlanet, Coinbase, Globant, Mara Holdings and Riot Platforms.

NBIM has been investing in the Michael Saylor-led business intelligence since 2008, years before the startup launched to its BTC acquisition strategy. It is unclear whether the Norwegian fund holds the shares to gain exposure to the crypto.

NBIM indirect Bitcoin exposure grows

As revealed in a January 29 X post by Vetle Lunde, Head of Research at K33, the fund’s indirect Bitcoin exposure from its MSTR shares grew by 1199.7341.

Lunde also pointed out that the fund’s exposure surged by 153% in 2024, which he attributed to corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies spearheaded by figures such as MicroStrategy’s Saylor, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel.

The K33 Research head further explained that NBIM’s Bitcoin exposure in US dollar terms grew from $23 million in 2020 to $356 million in 2024. By December 31, 2024, the fund’s total indirect Bitcoin exposure reached 4 billion Norwegian Krone. 

Record profits from rising tech investments

According to a January 29 Reuters report, NBIM recorded a 2024 annual profit of 2.51T Norwegian Krone ($222B).

The gains were primarily driven by the strong performance of US technology stocks. Nearly half of the returns came from the tech sector, and Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft were among the top contributors to the fund’s profits. 

As of the end of last year, the fund owns a whopping $43 billion worth of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), $42.9 billion of Nvidia Corp (NVDA), and $46.2 billion of Apple Inc (AAPL) shares, per records on its website. 

NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen asserts, “[2024] was a very strong year.” However, he warns that such returns are not guaranteed in the future. To the investors, he says, “I just want to warn again that this will not last forever [for future markets].”

The fund’s overall return on investment for 2024 stood at 13%, which is 0.45% below its benchmark index. Equity investments yielded an 18% return. 

In addition, fixed-income investments brought in just 1%. Finally, unlisted real estate saw a decline of 1%, and renewable energy infrastructure recorded a steeper loss of 10%.

Despite its growing Bitcoin exposure, the fund’s asset allocation has undergone adjustments. By the end of 2024, equities made up 71.4% of the portfolio, an increase from 70.9% in 2023.

NBIM’s bond investments declined slightly to 26.6% from 27.1%. Also, unlisted real estate investments fell to 1.8% from 1.9%. Renewable infrastructure investments remained unchanged at 0.1% of the fund’s total assets.

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