Bitcoin Skeptic Vanguard Now Top Strategy Shareholder With 8% Stake

Vanguard Group now holds over 20 million shares of Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, making it the company’s largest institutional investor. The position gives Vanguard indirect exposure to Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings.

Vanguard’s passive index funds, including its Total Stock Market Index Fund, automatically bought Strategy stock when the company joined major benchmarks, Bloomberg reports. The purchases lifted Vanguard’s stake to roughly 8% of outstanding Class A shares, surpassing its nearest competitor.

The fund manager built these stakes between January and April 2025, during which Vanguard’s indirect Bitcoin exposure via Strategy jumped 26.3%. The timing coincides with Strategy’s inclusion in broader market indices.

Vanguard executives have previously called Bitcoin an “immature asset class” and “more a speculation than an investment.” The firm has maintained its cautious stance toward digital assets even as its funds accumulated Strategy shares.

Index funds must hold every stock in their benchmark, regardless of fund managers’ personal views. “When you have an index fund, you have to own all the stocks, for better or worse, and that includes stocks that you may not like or approve of personally,” said Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg.

VanEck’s head of digital assets research, Matthew Sigel, commented on the situation: “Indexing into $9 billion of what you openly mock isn’t strategy. It’s institutional dementia.”

Strategy, which rebranded from MicroStrategy in February 2025, holds approximately 601,550 BTC worth around $70.8 billion in its treasury. The company acquired these holdings through equity offerings and debt sales under CEO Michael Saylor’s leadership.

The company’s stock has risen over 3,500% since it began its Bitcoin treasury strategy in 2020. As Strategy continues to accumulate Bitcoin, Vanguard and other index managers will maintain their stakes in the company regardless of their public positions on cryptocurrency.