Norway Government Pension Fund Global, the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, now holds almost 600 bitcoins. This is according to a recent report published by crypto analytics firm Arcane Research.
Why Is The Norwegian Government Fund Indirectly Holding BTC?
Norway has arguably the largest wealth fund in the world, followed by China. The fund saves all the revenue from the country’s lucrative oil and gas industries in global companies, stocks, shares, real estate, and bonds for posterity.
Arcane Research noted in its September 19 blog post that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund has a 1.51% equity stake in Virginia-based business software firm MicroStrategy.
As you will recall, MicroStrategy recently completed the acquisition of 16,796 bitcoins, bringing the firm’s total bitcoin stash to 38,250. The company also made the benchmark crypto its primary treasury reserve asset for its “solid store of value” properties.
Arcane Research observed that via this ownership stake, the government fund now indirectly holds 577.58 BTC — worth approximately $6.3 million at current prices. The analytics firm further stated that it is very likely that the Norwegian Government Pension Fund has gained indirect exposure to bitcoin through other investments on top of its bitcoin exposure through MicroStrategy.
Positive Outlook On The Bitcoin Market
The central banks’ money-printing actions have led to many investors looking for alternative assets to store their wealth in. Besides MicroStrategy, institutional investors are also foraying into bitcoin.
According to Skew analytics, Bakkt bitcoin futures volume shattered a new record high on September 15, with the physically-settled contracts taking the lion’s share. Interestingly, the Bakkt Futures volume boom came less than a day after MicroStrategy’s bitcoin purchase.
The growing interest in bitcoin by corporations and institutional investors has already boosted the price of bitcoin in recent days. The flagship cryptocurrency is hovering above $10,492 at press time, down 3.73% in the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin could continue to attract more high net worth investors in the near-term. This will likely light a fire under the bulls, subsequently pushing the price of the asset higher.
