Norway Wealth Fund Discloses $81.9 Million BitMine Stake

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global disclosed a 6,151,062-share position in BitMine Immersion Technologies valued at $81,870,635, according to a Norges Bank holdings filing for the quarter ended June 30.

The holding gives the sovereign wealth fund indirect exposure to Ethereum through BMNR stock. It is an equity position in a listed company, not a direct purchase of ETH by the fund.

BitMine was not listed in Norges Bank’s Dec. 31 holdings report but appeared in its June 30 report. The filings do not disclose when the fund acquired the shares or how much it paid for them.

An Equity Stake in an ETH Treasury Company

BitMine describes itself as an Ethereum treasury and blockchain-infrastructure company. In an Aug. 10 company announcement furnished as an SEC exhibit, BitMine reported 5,805,238 ETH and said its crypto, cash, marketable securities and other investments totaled $11.6 billion as of Aug. 9.

The Norwegian fund’s exposure therefore comes through BitMine’s shares, whose value reflects the company’s ETH holdings as well as its financing and operations. BitMine also said it joined the Russell 1000 index on June 26, though neither company’s disclosure establishes whether the index addition drove the fund’s position.

Norges Bank Investment Management said the Government Pension Fund Global was worth 22.683 trillion kroner at June 30, with 72.1 percent invested in equities. The manager published its total holdings on Aug. 12 alongside its half-year results.

BitMine’s announcement said 5,067,309 of its ETH was staked as of Aug. 9. The Defiant previously reported on the company’s ETH accumulation toward its stated target of holding 5 percent of the token’s supply.