South Korea’s National Pension Service has added MicroStrategy, the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder, to its portfolio.
The National Pension Service, the world’s third-largest pension fund with nearly $800 billion in assets under management, has acquired 24,500 MicroStrategy (MSTR) shares for $33.75 million, as detailed in an Aug. 13 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
With the latest investment, MicroStrategy became the second major crypto-focused entity that NPS invested in, following last year’s acquisition of 282,673 Coinbase (COIN) shares for $19.92 million at the time. As of the second quarter of 2024, the pension fund continues to hold $51 million in COIN shares, which is up almost 150% over the past year.
The NPS likely expects to replicate the success of its Coinbase investment with MicroStrategy, a business analytics firm which has turned its focus towards accumulating Bitcoin (BTC). The Michael Saylor-founded firm started its Bitcoin journey in 2020 and has since acquired 226,500 BTC valued at $13.27 billion. MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings are up 65% from the $8.35 billion it committed.
A similar trend has been observed among other key industry players who also view MicroStrategy as a good investment. Two major central banks, namely the Norwegian and Swiss central banks, recently bought MSTR, which is up 92.5% since the start of the year.
Pension funds embrace Bitcoin
It is debatable whether these investments reflect a growing confidence in Bitcoin’s potential, but pension funds across various jurisdictions have started warming up to the idea of including Bitcoin in their holdings.
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, currently the largest pension in the world, recently floated the idea of exploring investments in the apex cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, other funds like the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund have already held Bitcoin in their portfolio since 2021.
Some institutions have opted for an indirect approach with the advent of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which offer a safer way for traditional funds to gain exposure to BTC. A trend that institutions like CBOE Digital had been anticipating.
The State of Michigan Retirement System is the latest in this regard, disclosing a $6.6 million in ARK 21Shares’ ARKB spot Bitcoin ETF last month, following on the heels of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s $99 million Bitcoin investment into BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.
