SWIB, the largest retirement fund in the United States, invests in Bitcoin ETF! Finance Professor: Will lead more institutions to enter the market

In the first quarter of this year, more than 900 large U.S. institutions disclosed their investments in Bitcoin spot ETFs in position reports submitted to the SEC. Among them is the Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), which manages more than $156 billion. The retirement fund managed by this institution is rated as one of the most financially sound funds in the United States. As of March 31, they have purchased BlackRock IBIT and Grayscale GBTC have a combined stake worth US$164 million.

Finance professor: SWIB’s first quarter investment is just a test of the waters

Regarding the operations of this well-known retirement fund, Marquette University finance professor David Krause said in an interview that the news was shocking This has affected the investment industry as a whole, as large institutions, especially pension funds, typically do not invest in ETFs as recently launched as the Bitcoin Spot ETF, especially when the state’s investment committee has been leading the way.

He said: Wisconsin’s investment committee has always been innovative. This is a well-funded retirement fund. So to some extent, they have the ability to invest for the long term. They don't have to worry about liquidity like the Illinois Retirement Fund, which is only 50% funded.

Although SWIB’s investment in Bitcoin ETFs only accounts for about 0.1% of its total assets under management, Krause said that this investment is just a “test of the waters” and he expects SWIB to increase this amount and attract It is expected that other institutions will enter the market: I think this is just the beginning. They may be gauging public reaction to this type of investment and treating it as an experiment since it won't have a significant impact on the portfolio unless they increase their holdings to 1% or 2%.

Krause believes that Bitcoin ETFs can increase the diversification of investment portfolios because they do not fluctuate simultaneously with stocks and bonds, which can bring good diversification effects. Like all new technologies, the potential returns are extremely high. Additionally, since Bitcoin has a limited supply, it can also serve as a tool against inflation.

937 large institutions have invested more than US$11 billion in Bitcoin spot ETFs

The U.S. SEC stipulates that asset management institutions with stock assets under management exceeding US$100 million must submit first-quarter reports before May 15 13F report to disclose the positions held and provide the whereabouts of the relevant funds, so we can know which institutions hold the U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETF.

According to statistics from K33 Research, as of the end of the first quarter, 937 asset institutions had invested in the U.S. Bitcoin Spot ETF, holding a position of US$11.06 billion, accounting for 18.7% of the BTCETF asset management scale.

Among various ETFs, GBTC is the most favored product by these institutions, with an amount of US$4.38 billion, followed by IBIT with US$3.23 billion and FBTC with US$2.1 billion.

On May 28, IBIT once surpassed GBTC in size and became the world's largest Bitcoin spot ETF with a holding of nearly 20 billion US dollars. In the first quarter of this year, a total of 414 large institutions invested in IBIT; in addition, IBIT successfully attracted US$20 billion in capital inflows in just 137 days, becoming the fastest-growing ETF in history.

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