The European country’s sovereign wealth fund does not hold BTC directly but has indirect exposure through a portfolio of crypto companies. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest state-directed wealth fund in the world, increased its indirect Bitcoin (BTC) exposure by 192% over the last year, according to crypto research company K33 Research. The fund has indirect exposure to 7,161 BTC through its investment portfolio, which includes treasury companies Strategy and Metaplanet and crypto exchange Coinbase. The fund currently holds over 11.9 billion Norwegian krone ($1.2 billion) of Strategy’s stock, a 133% increase from 2024. Similarly, the fund has increased its Coinbase holdings by over 96% since 2024. Read more
A temporary ban could be imposed as early as autumn based on an investigation into crypto miners’ energy consumption. The government of Norway is considering a temporary ban on crypto mining in the country in an effort to “free up power, network capacity and area for other purposes.” In a Friday notice, the Norwegian government said it would be conducting an investigation in autumn that could result in a temporary ban on crypto mining data centers. Officials said they had the authority to enforce such a ban under Norway’s Planning and Building Act, which includes provisions on allocating energy. “It is uncertain how big a problem crypto mining will become in Norway in the future,” the notice reads. “The registration requirement in the new data center regulations will provide increased knowledge about the scope of data centers that mine cryptocurrency.” Read more