When direct ownership is restricted, capital seeks substitutes. Large institutions and sovereign funds operate within regulatory and custodial limits that often prevent them from holding spot Bitcoin. In those conditions, exposure shifts to proxies that fit existing frameworks. Equity vehicles become stand-ins for an asset they cannot yet hold directly.

MicroStrategy has filled this role by converting its balance sheet into a large Bitcoin position wrapped in a publicly traded structure. For institutions, this offers liquidity, reporting standards, and regulatory familiarity. The trade-off is that exposure now includes equity risk, management decisions, and capital structure, none of which exist with direct ownership.

This behaviour does not reflect preference for proxies. It reflects constraint. When access to the underlying asset is limited, intermediated exposure becomes the next best option. As a result, demand concentrates in vehicles that can be traded within current rules, even if those vehicles introduce additional risks.

Allegations of manipulation around proxy instruments highlight the difference between holding Bitcoin and holding claims on Bitcoin exposure. Equities can be influenced by sentiment, leverage, and market structure. Bitcoin itself cannot be diluted, rehypothecated, or altered through commentary. The proxy absorbs those dynamics. The asset does not.

Over time, these pressures tend to resolve in one direction. Either access to spot ownership expands, or reliance on proxies grows more fragile. History suggests that capital ultimately moves toward the asset with fewer intermediaries and fewer points of failure.

Bitcoin was designed to remove the need for proxies. Until that access is widely available at institutional scale, substitutes will continue to form. Their existence is not a signal of preference. It is evidence of demand constrained by structure.

https://www.perplexity.ai/page/norway-s-sovereign-wealth-fund-0H26rx2KScW_OBdMH1C_kg