Wisconsin Investment Board Plunges Into Bitcoin ETFs, Highlighting Crypto Influence in State Trust Funds
Summary:
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) disclosed investments in Bitcoin ETFs provided by BlackRock and Grayscale, holding over $164 million worth of shares. This suggests potential exposure to cryptocurrency investments for the Wisconsin Retirement System. With assets exceeding $156 billion managed by SWIB, nearly half are invested in public equities and include investments in Coinbase, MicroStrategy, and Cleanspark. The approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs listing and trading in January by the SEC has led experts to anticipate a decision on the spot Ether ETF by the upcoming May 23 deadline.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) has indicated its investment in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds provided by Grayscale and BlackRock, as revealed in a May 14th document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This government body, tasked with the oversight of Wisconsin's state trust funds, holds over 2.4 million shares in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and over a million in Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust, collectively valued at an approximate sum of $164 million. Indications from the document propose that the Wisconsin Retirement System could be involved in cryptocurrency investments via these two finance companies.
As reported by SWIB, the total assets managed by them exceeded $156 billion as of December 2023, nearly half of which were invested in public equities. Other notable investments encompass stocks in Coinbase, MicroStrategy, and Cleanspark. The SEC asserts, however, that the information given by the regional body should not be blindly accepted as either "accurate" or "complete".
Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst from Bloomberg stated on May 14th that it is not usual for these large institutional investors to appear in these reportings until an ETF has achieved greater liquidity in around a year, and took this occurrence as a promising indication expecting more such moves, considering that these institutions usually follow each other's leads.
This filing by SEC was proceeded by similar admissions from several major banking institutions including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, who disclosed investments under $1 million combined in spot Bitcoin ETFs. Susquehanna International Group announced purchases exceeding $1 billion in shares of spot cryptocurrency ETFs in the first quarter of 2024, this included shares from GBTC, IBIT, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, and Bitwise Bitcoin's ETF.
The SEC sanctioned the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin ETFs on United States exchanges in January. Multiple specialists anticipate a decision from the commission about approving a spot Ether exchange-traded fund by May 23, the deadline for an application from asset management company VanEck.
Published At
5/14/2024 9:11:18 PM
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