The state pension fund of Michigan, the tenth largest U.S. state, has invested $6.6 million in Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, through the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB).
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Following the approval of Bitcoin ETFs, institutional investors have become more comfortable with dipping their toes into the newfangled asset class. As reported by U.Today, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor predicted that pension funds would need “some Bitcoin.”
The most recent investment had little impact on the Bitcoin price due to its relatively small size. The leading cryptocurrency is currently trading at $67,415 after coming close to surpassing the $68,000 level earlier today.
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In May, Wisconsin’s pension fund made a trailblazing move by acquiring $160 million worth of Bitcoin through BlackRock’s IBIT.
The Jersey City pension fund is also in the process of updating paperwork in order to allocate a portion of its holdings to Bitcoin ETFs.
Thousands of American pension funds collectively manage a whopping $27 trillion.
Outside the U.S., pension funds are also exploring Bitcoin. In March, Japan’s government pension fund stated that it was exploring the largest cryptocurrency as an investment option.
A cautionary tale
Even though institutional investors are now more comfortable investors, there are some still painful lessons from the previous bull market cycle. For instance, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan famously burned $90 million by betting on the now-collapsed FTX exchange. It became one of the first blue-chip investors to embrace the lightly regulated industry. The OTPP chose to avoid crypto after writing off its FTX stake even though the investment had very limited impact on its total assets that amount to $190 billion.
