State Of Wisconsin Invests $164 Million In Spot Bitcoin ETFs As ''Big Fish Institutions'' Endorse BTC

State Of Wisconsin Invests $164 Million In Spot Bitcoin ETFs As ”Big Fish Institutions” Endorse BTC

Updated: 15 May 2024

Disclosure

Don’t invest unless prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, you shouldn’t expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage

The State of Wisconsin invested $164 million in spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) in the first quarter as institutional interest in the king of cryptos grows.

The state’s investment board acquired 94,562 iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF shares worth about $100 million and $64 million worth of shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The investment board has over $156 billion in assets under management that are owned by the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS), the State Investment Fund, and other state trust funds.

The disclosure comes days after New Hampshire state representative Keith Ammon said the state should consider allocating some of its reserves into Bitcoin ETFs.

Should the State of New Hampshire investigate allocating a small percentage of its reserves into a Bitcoin ETF? 🧵

— Rep. Keith Ammon (@RepKeithAmmon) May 12, 2024

Ammon noted that if New Hampshire had invested 5% of its emergency fund in Bitcoin in 2016, it would have already made a 10x return.

Institutions Flock To Bitcoin ETFs

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said that Wisconsin’s investment in Bitcoin ETFs shows growing interest from “big fish institutions.”

Wow, a state pension bought $IBIT in first quarter. Normally 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 no ordinary launches. Good sign, expect more, as institutions tend to move in herds https://t.co/leKVe2CK1S

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) May 14, 2024

First-quarter disclosures by institutions show that a number of them are holding Bitcoin ETFs. Multinational bank BNB Paribas filed its 13F report with the SEC on May 1, showing it holds 1,030 IBIT shares.

JPMorgan also disclosed that it holds over $750,000 worth of Bitcoin ETF shares. In its filing, the bank revealed a diversified investment portfolio with investments in ETFs managed by BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, ProShares, and Bitwise.