In a twist that few saw coming, Vanguard has quietly become the top shareholder in Strategy (MSTR). The $10 trillion asset manager now owns just over 20 million MSTR shares. That adds up to nearly 8% of Strategy’s Class A stock. Vanguard once warned that Bitcoin was “immature” and carried “no inherent economic value.” Now it finds itself deeply tied to Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin play.
Index Strategy At Work
According to a Bloomberg report, Vanguard didn’t set out to back Saylor’s moves. It simply follows its index‑fund rules. When Strategy’s stock climbed, it grew larger in the indexes that the company tracks. The result: Vanguard had to buy more shares.
Through its broad‑market funds, the asset manager ended up with a stake worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It shows how passive strategies can lead to active positions in unexpected places.
Vanguard’s CEO Tim Buckley once said that Bitcoin “could wreak havoc on portfolios.” He argued that the flagship crypto lacked the history and solid ground that long‑term investors need.
Yet Vanguard’s own track record of following index weights means it can’t shy away from a stock that’s on the rise. No matter the fund’s view on Bitcoin, the rules forced its hand.
Indirect Bitcoin Exposure Grows
Strategy now holds 601,550 BTC. Each share of MSTR represents a slice of that giant pile of Bitcoin. For anyone holding Vanguard’s indexes, that means indirect exposure to more than half a million coins.
Since 2020, MSTR stock has climbed around 3,400%. That surge helped push the firm’s market value up fast enough to land in Vanguard’s top holdings.
Large investors often use ETFs or purpose‑built products to get Bitcoin exposure. Vanguard could have joined the likes of BlackRock in launching a spot Bitcoin ETF. But it declined.
Instead, it finds itself holding a big chunk of Strategy. That makes it an unwitting part of the Bitcoin story, even if it wasn’t the path the firm’s managers originally chose.
The fact that Vanguard is now the largest shareholder of $MSTR is proof that God has a sense of humor, or at least that was my reaction to @VildanaHajric who wrote story about it out today pic.twitter.com/TLg4iqT3kQ
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) July 14, 2025
Institutional Backing Signals Shift
Michael Saylor sees this as a sign that institutions are coming around to Bitcoin. He told Bloomberg that Vanguard’s stake is “a powerful signal” of acceptance.
For years, many big firms treated Bitcoin as a niche asset. Now they’re tied to its fortunes through Strategy’s public shares. That shift may encourage others to take a closer look.
Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas summed up the irony on X, saying “God has a sense of humor.” He pointed out that Vanguard’s index approach means it must own all the stocks in its benchmarks—whether it likes them or not.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView