Bitcoin
State of Wisconsin Buys Nearly $100 Million in BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT)
The US state of Wisconsin purchased 94,562 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the first quarter of the year, a file shows. The shares are worth nearly $100 million.
Bitcoin rose 1% on the news, currently trading at $61,957, down 1.7% in the last 24 hours, as new inflation data arrived hotter than expected during the morning hours in the US.
Wisconsin, which filed its quarterly 13F report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, is the first state to disclose bitcoin purchases. The investment board also shares purchased of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) worth around $64 million.
“Typically you don’t get these big fish institutions in the 13Fs for a year or so (when the ETF gets more liquidity), but as we’ve seen, these are not common launches,” Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote in an announcement. publish in X. “Good sign, wait longer as institutions tend to move in herds.”
The investment board, also known as SWIB, was founded in 1951 and currently manages more than $156 billion in assets, according to its website. It manages the holdings of the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS), the State Investment Fund (SIF), and other state trust funds.
The disclosure comes as March 15 is the deadline to submit quarterly holdings by institutional investment managers with at least US$100 million in assets under management. The market is watching these disclosures to see if any large TradFi funds have invested in Bitcoin ETFs since their launch earlier this year.
UPDATE (May 14, 2:55 pm UTC): Adds comments and more information about the state investment council.