Bitcoin
The State of Wisconsin Bought $163 Million in Bitcoin ETFs
- The state of Wisconsin purchased about $163 million worth of bitcoin, according to 13F filings.
- The Wisconsin State Board of Investment purchased bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock and Grayscale in the first quarter.
- The Wisconsin Investment Board manages the state’s pensions, which are worth more than $150 billion.
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The state of Wisconsin purchased $163 million worth of bitcoin in the first quarter, according to a 13F filing done with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Wisconsin Investment Board manages the Badger State’s pensions, which are worth more than $150 billion. The pension’s 13F filing shows that it holds about $38 billion in public shares as of March 31.
According to the document, the board purchased just over 1 million shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust for a total value of $63.7 million and about 2.5 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust for a total value of about of US$99.2 million.
Wisconsin appears to be one of the first state pension funds to invest in the crypto space, and that’s a big deal, according to Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“Wow, a state pension bought $IBIT in the first quarter. Typically you don’t have these big fish institutions in the 13Fs for a year or so (when the ETF gets more liquidity), but as we’ve seen, they’re not common launches. Good sign , wait longer, as institutions tend to move in herds,” Balchunas posted in X on Tuesday.
In 2022, a Virginia pension said it had gained approval to invest in crypto-agriculture, with reports at the time stating that the Fairfax County retirement system had invested $70 million in the space.
Bitcoin has traded higher since the Wisconsin Investment Board made the order and rose 6.2% on Wednesday to $65,381, representing its highest level since May 6.