According to "The Block", a 13F report submitted on Tuesday (14th) showed that as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, the Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) held Bitcoin spot ETFs worth approximately US$163 million.
The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that as of the end of March, the Wisconsin Investment Commission held 2,450,400 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF, worth $99,167,688, and 1.013 million shares of Grayscale’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) ETF, worth approximately $63.68731 million.
Stocks of several cryptocurrency-related companies are also in the committee's portfolio, such as cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, publicly traded company MicroStrategy with large Bitcoin holdings, payments company Block, as well as Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Cipher Mining and cryptocurrency mining companies such as Cleanspark.
The Wisconsin Investment Commission is an independent state agency in Wisconsin that manages the investments of public retirement funds and other trust funds. The committee has made other cryptocurrency investments in the past and in its recent 13F filing maintained its investment in traditional financial investment vehicles in addition to its investment in Web3.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas believes that state pension funds’ interest in Bitcoin spot ETFs appears to be coming faster than expected, commenting on the X platform:
"Wow, a state pension fund bought $IBIT in the first quarter. Typically you don't see these big institutions in the 13F for a year or so (when ETFs have more liquidity), but as we've seen "These are not run-of-the-mill issuances, which is a good sign that there will be more, as institutions tend to act en masse."
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
BlackRock's IBIT and Grayscale's GBTC are currently the two largest Bitcoin spot ETFs. According to SoSo Value, IBIT and GBTC have asset management scales of US$16.9 billion and US$17.7 billion respectively. According to Eric Balchunas, IBIT's AUM topped $10 billion in 49 trading days, shattering the previous record set by traditional ETFs.
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