Why More Institutional Investors Are Adding Bitcoin to Their Balance Sheets
Key Points
Billionaire Michael Saylor’s Strategy is the single-biggest Bitcoin owner, with a position valued at $64 billion today.
Financial services entities continue to launch new products that give their clients easy access to Bitcoin.
At the end of the day, these investors are all after huge returns, something Bitcoin can offer.
- 10 stocks we like better than Bitcoin ›
It's been a difficult period for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ever since it reached an all-time high of $126,198.07 in October 2025. Right now, the world's top cryptocurrency trades almost 40% off that record (as of April 23).
But in the past two months, Bitcoin has proven its worth. Since the current Iran war started on Feb. 28, the digital asset's price has risen 19%, outperforming both the S&P 500 index and gold.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
While this is just a small sample size, it supports the argument that this cryptocurrency belongs in portfolios. Institutional investors are leading the next wave of adoption by adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets.
Image source: Getty Images.
Michael Saylor's Strategy is now the biggest Bitcoin hodler
When it comes to institutional Bitcoin owners, no entity beats Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR). Through unique financial engineering tactics, this company raises capital from equity and fixed-income markets to acquire more of the cryptocurrency. It owns a whopping 815,061 Bitcoin units, valued at nearly $64 billion, on its balance sheet. Saylor is a notable long-term hodler of this important cryptocurrency.
Michael Saylor, the billionaire technology entrepreneur who transformed Strategy from a software enterprise into a Bitcoin treasury company, believes the cryptocurrency is the best asset to own in the face of fiat currencies being constantly debased. Bitcoin's scarce supply limit of 21 million units is a very compelling feature. Plus, its impressive long-term performance is hard to overlook.
Other notable publicly traded companies that hold Bitcoin directly on their balance sheets are Coinbase, Tesla, and Block. Should Bitcoin's price continue to appreciate, other businesses will follow.
Financial companies are driven by the incentive to make more money
The Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), launched more than two years ago in January 2024, have been an extremely successful product introduction in the financial services industry. With under $64 billion in net assets, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust is the dominant offering in the market.
Activity hasn't calmed down. Earlier in April, Morgan Stanley launched its own ETF, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust. After 13 trading days, it has amassed $163 million in net assets.
Generating more revenue is the primary goal of these ETF sponsors. As they realize that their clients demand access to Bitcoin, they are incentivized to create these investment vehicles that can rake in fee income.
The ETFs provide a frictionless and regulatory-friendly way for allocators to gain Bitcoin exposure. The iShares Bitcoin Trust is owned by numerous investment firms, including Jane Street and Brevan Howard Capital Management. Even Harvard University's endowment fund owns this ETF. Of course, individual investors have access, too.
These investment managers and individuals are obviously after the huge returns that Bitcoin can possibly provide. They also see the digital asset as a tool for portfolio diversification.
It's becoming clear, however, that institutions are driving Bitcoin adoption now.
Should you buy stock in Bitcoin right now?
Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $498,522!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,276,807!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 983% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 200% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 26, 2026.
Neil Patel has positions in Strategy and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, BlackRock, Block, Tesla, and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Recommended Articles
