The latest disclosures show that Norway and the United Arab Emirates ' Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds continue to expand their Bitcoin-related exposures, but are still held mainly through indirect means such as shares and ETF, rather than directly buying into BTC.
Norway's Government's Global Pension Fund, also known as the Petroleum Fund, increased its Bitcoin-related exposure by 21.2 per cent in the first half of 2026, up from 60.5 per cent in the past year. The Fund, managed by the Norwegian Bank Investment Management Corporation, with a total asset of approximately US$ 2.3 trillion, is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world.
Strategy has the highest percentage.
According to the report, in Norway, Strategy shares accounted for 81 per cent of this bitcoin-related configuration. This means that the Fund ' s main exposure to the currency remains with listed companies holding BTC as part of the balance sheet, rather than directly assigning the spot.
This approach is often easier to incorporate into existing compliance and hosting systems and avoids operating arrangements resulting from the direct possession of encrypted assets.
Abu Dhabi holds IBIT 764 million dollars.
For its part, the sovereign fund of Abu Dhabi currently holds approximately $764 million in cash in Beletbitcoin. This exposure, according to the report, has increased for five consecutive quarters since the fourth quarter of 2024, indicating that configuration behaviour is not a short-term recovery.
For large institutions, the creation of warehouse space through ETF is usually easier to implement than the direct holding of bitcoin and more in line with traditional asset allocation processes.
Organ preference indirect configuration tool
This change in holding stock reflects the increasing participation of traditional institutions in the Bitcoin market through listed company shares and spot ETFs. According to the article, such a path could reduce the degree of compliance, hosting and operational complexity involved in direct currency holding.
At the same time, the report mentions that the Bitcoin spot ETF in Beled has continued to expand over the past year, with more than 1560 institutional clients and a cumulative inflow of $6117 billion, one of the most important investment instruments in this area.
However, as another type of bitcoin convertible, Strategy stock prices have declined over the past year by 72.6 per cent. This also suggests that when agencies acquire bitcoin openings through shares, they will still be exposed to higher stock price risks associated with the volatility of the encrypted market.