Wisconsin Pension Invests $164M in Bitcoin ETFs

Wisconsin pension invests millions in BlackRock ishare Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) disclosed investments in spot Bitcoin BTC tickers offered by BlackRock and Grayscale exchange-traded funds for $61,364.

The government entity tasked with overseeing state trust funds in Wisconsin disclosed in a filing on May 14 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it possessed over a million shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and over 2.4 million shares of the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). The respective values of these holdings were estimated to be around $100 million and $64 million. The filing indicated that the two asset management firms might expose the Wisconsin Retirement System to cryptocurrency investments.

As of December 2023, the SWIB disclosed that it oversaw assets amounting to over $156 billion, of which approximately 48% was allocated to public equity investments. Additional investments comprised stock in Cleanspark, MicroStrategy, and Coinbase. Observers should not presume that the information provided by the state entity was “complete and accurate,” according to the SEC.

“Typically, these large institutions don’t invest in 13Fs until the ETF gains more liquidity, which takes about a year or so,” said Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas in a May 14 X post. “However, as we’ve seen, these are no ordinary launches.” “Expect more, as institutions tend to follow in the herd.”

The SEC filing followed comparable disclosures by significant institutions, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, which accumulated spot BTC ETFs worth less than $1 million. Susquehanna International Group disclosed that in the first quarter of 2024, it acquired shares of spot cryptocurrency ETFs valued at over $1 billion. The investments were the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), and GBTC shares.

In January, the SEC authorized the trading and listing of spot Bitcoin ETFs on U.S. exchanges. Numerous experts anticipate that the commission will decide whether or not to sanction an exchange-traded fund that trades spot Ether ETH depreciated $2,889 by May 23, approaching the final application deadline from asset manager VanEck.