Two of Europe’s largest banks have significantly increased their stakes in MicroStrategy (MSTR), the business intelligence firm known for holding over 214,000 Bitcoin on its balance sheet — a move that underscores growing institutional appetite for indirect cryptocurrency exposure.
Deutsche Bank disclosed in a recent filing that it purchased an additional 53,215 shares of MicroStrategy, boosting its total holdings to 784,919 shares valued at approximately $140.1 million. The German lender, which manages about $2.1 trillion in assets, has previously explored crypto custody and blockchain research but has now taken a more tangible step by expanding its equity position in a company whose stock price is highly correlated with Bitcoin.
UBS Group, Switzerland’s largest bank with $6.6 trillion in assets, revealed an even larger commitment. The bank acquired 551,121 additional MSTR shares in its latest purchase, bringing its total to 6.31 million shares worth roughly $1.12 billion. UBS’s accumulation has accelerated throughout 2026: it held 2.52 million shares in January, nearly doubled that to 5.76 million shares by February, and reached the current level in May.
In addition to the MicroStrategy bet, UBS’s SEC Form 13F filing disclosed exposure to XRP, marking a symbolic endorsement for the digital asset despite the relatively small dollar amount involved. The move is part of a broader pivot from the bank’s earlier skepticism, where it once questioned Bitcoin’s viability as money or a store of value.
The combined actions by two major traditional financial institutions signal that the convergence between conventional finance and digital assets continues to mature, often through regulated equity proxies like MicroStrategy rather than direct crypto holdings. This trend may encourage other asset managers to follow suit as regulatory frameworks such as the EU’s MiCA provide greater clarity.