Wisconsin Retirement Fund Holds $164 Million Bitcoin ETF, Committee Professor: Just Testing the Waters

Wisconsin Retirement Fund Holds $164 Million Bitcoin ETF, Committee Professor: Just Testing the Waters

Wisconsin Retirement Fund Holds $164 Million Bitcoin ETF, Committee Professor: Just Testing the Waters

According to a report from Zombit, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosed in a filing in May that the Wisconsin Retirement Fund purchased IBIT from BlackRock and GBTC from Grayscale in the first quarter, with a total holding value of approximately $164 million as of March 31. This news shocked the industry at the time because large institutions, especially pension funds, typically do not invest in newly issued ETFs such as Bitcoin spot ETFs.

David Krause, a member of the state’s investment committee and a finance professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee, recently stated in an interview with local media in Wisconsin:
As of the end of 2023, SWIB manages approximately $156 billion in assets. According to information on its website, this means that its holdings in Bitcoin ETFs account for only about 0.1% of its investment portfolio. However, Krause stated that this investment is just a “trial”, and he expects SWIB to increase its investment amount, with other pension funds eventually following suit.

In the first quarter of this year, nearly 500 institutional investors disclosed holdings of Bitcoin spot ETFs. As of March 31, the largest owner was hedge fund Millennium Management, which disclosed holdings worth $2 billion across multiple funds, accounting for approximately 3% of its total managed assets.