In a recent post on the X social media network, MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor has predicted that US pension funds, which collectively manage more than $27 trillion in assets, will need “some Bitcoin.”
His prediction is now far-fetched. In a Tuesday filing, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), the agency that manages the state’s public pensions, disclosed that it had acquired $99 million worth of shares of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF (IBIT). This could be a watershed moment for institutional adoption, according to Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst. Balchunas has predicted that other pension funds could jump on the ETF bandwagon as well, following SWIB’s lead.
SWIB’s Bitcoin investment is very notable considering how risk-averse pension funds are. Hence, it is safe to assume that institutional investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with owning Bitcoin following the introduction of a slew of ETFs earlier this year.
Earlier this month, BlackRock’s Robert Mitchnick revealed that some major institutional investors, including pension funds, were in the process of performing due diligence before dipping their toes into Bitcoin.
Multiple major firms have disclosed their Bitcoin ETF holdings ahead of the deadline for quarterly 13F regulatory filings which is set for May 15. As reported by U.Today, JPMorgan, Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse), Wells Fargo, and Susquehanna International Group (SIG) are among the big names that now have exposure to these newfangled products.
Saylor previously predicted that 2024 would kick off the era of the institutional adoption of Bitcoin.
