The Wisconsin State Investment Board (SWIB) has reported investments in Bitcoin funds
The Wisconsin State Investment Board (SWIB) has reported investments in spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds offered by Grayscale and BlackRock.
In a May 14 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the state body responsible for administering trusts for the state of Wisconsin revealed that it owns more than 2.4 million shares of BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and more than 1 million shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). ), valued at approximately $100 million and $64 million, respectively. The filing indicates that the Wisconsin Retirement System may have exposure to cryptocurrency investments through the two asset management companies.
SWIB reported that it managed more than $156 billion in assets as of December 2023, of which approximately 48% goes to public equity investments. Other investments included shares in Coinbase, MicroStrategy, and Cleanspark. The SEC added that supervisors should not assume that information provided by the state entity was “accurate and complete.”
“Normally, you don’t get these big fish institutions in the 13 funds for a year or so (when the ETF gets more liquidity) but as we’ve seen, these are not normal launches.” He said Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas in a May 14 post. “A good indicator, expect more, as institutions tend to move in herds.”
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The SEC filing followed similar reports from major banks, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, which disclosed less than $1 million combined in spot BTC exchange-traded funds. Susquehanna International Group reported that it bought more than $1 billion worth of spot cryptocurrency ETF shares in the first quarter of 2024. The investments consist of shares of GBTC, IBIT, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot Bitcoin ETFs to be listed and traded on US exchanges in January. Many experts expect the commission to decide whether to approve an Ethereum (ETH) spot trading fund by May 23, when the deadline for an application from asset manager VanEck approaches.
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