In a Form-13F filed on Friday, the State of Michigan Retirement System revealed that it has bought $6.6 million worth of Bitcoin ETF products as of June 30.
How high could that allocation go over time?
Yet another regional government has disclosed an allocation to the newly launched Bitcoin ETFs, forging another step in Bitcoinâs growing adoption among not only institutions but also governments.
In a Form-13F filed on Friday, the State of Michigan Retirement System revealed that it had $6.6 million allocated to Bitcoin ETF products as of June 30.
Michigan Buys Bitcoin
According to the filing, the pension fund made its first Bitcoin investment through the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF â the fourth largest U.S. Bitcoin ETF behind BlackRock, Grayscale, and Fidelity.
The $6 million investment is just a drop in the ocean compared to the pensionâs reported $143.9 billion in assets as of December 2023, making for a 0.004% slice of the total pie. For every citizen of Michigan, it represents just $0.71 worth of BTC.
âAs someone from Michigan⊠boo yah on being ahead of the curve,â tweeted Luke Broyles, Head of Blockware podcast, on Friday. âThey got off zero.â
Michigan is now the second U.S. state to confirm itâs âoff zeroâ after Wisconsin. In May, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) revealed that it had deployed $154 million across BlackRock and Grayscaleâs Bitcoin ETFs, as of March 31 â a 0.4% slice of its $37.8 billion securities portfolio.
Pensions Buying BTC
The city of Jersey is also getting in on Bitcoin, with Mayor Steven Fulop announcing Thursday that he is filing paperwork with regulators to permit investment in the Bitcoin ETFs.
âThe question on whether Crypto/Bitcoin is here to stay is largely over + crypto/Bitcoin won,â Fullop tweeted on Friday.Â
The cityâs allocation will be completed by the end of the summer, with intentions to allocate roughly 2% of the fundâs assets into BTC.
Interest in Bitcoin is building in other states already, as multiple have now passed legislation to guarantee citizensâ rights to custody Bitcoin.Â
Ohio State Rep. Steve Demetriou proposed such legislation in April â which would also require state pensions to evaluate Bitcoin ETF for potential investment.
Though most large investorsâ Bitcoin allocations still seem small, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan has claimed that BTC allocations typically rise as time passes, after investors first put their toe in the water.