Vanguard Becomes Largest Institutional Shareholder of MicroStrategy

Vanguard, one of the world’s leading investment firms, has quietly become the largest institutional shareholder of Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy (MSTR), a company widely recognized for using Bitcoin as its main treasury reserve asset.

According to data from investment research platform Intel, Vanguard now holds over 20 million shares of MicroStrategy, amounting to around 8% of the company’s outstanding Class A common stock. This significant stake indirectly exposes Vanguard to the more than 200,000 Bitcoin that MicroStrategy keeps on its balance sheet, marking a 26.3% increase in holdings from January to April 2025.

This exposure largely comes through Vanguard’s various index and mutual funds, including the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, which includes MicroStrategy in its broad U.S. equity allocation. Additionally, MicroStrategy is part of multiple Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs tracking mid-cap benchmarks.

Vanguard: Reluctant on Bitcoin

Despite its growing indirect exposure to Bitcoin through MicroStrategy, Vanguard has maintained its cautious stance on cryptocurrency. The firm has consistently warned clients about the volatility of digital assets and has declined to offer spot Bitcoin ETFs, unlike competitors such as BlackRock.

In a Bloomberg TV interview in May, Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji made it clear that the company would not change its approach to cryptocurrencies, stating, “We don’t get caught up in the latest fad, but we’re dependable for the long term.” 

In another interview with ETF.com, Ramji emphasized that Vanguard is not interested in “making bets on speculative assets like Bitcoin,” highlighting that such moves are inconsistent with the investment philosophy Vanguard has built over five decades.

A Byproduct of Passive Investing

Vanguard’s unexpected exposure to Bitcoin through its stake in MicroStrategy has brought attention to the realities of passive investing. As Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted, passive index funds require holding all stocks within the index, regardless of the company’s focus or the manager’s personal views on certain assets.

Balchunas remarked that Vanguard’s significant exposure to a company deeply tied to Bitcoin highlights how index investing can lead to unintended exposure, adding humorously that this situation proves “God has a sense of humor.”