UK pension fund directly invests $65 million in BTC

What’s new? One of the UK’s pension funds has become the first in the country to invest in bitcoin, directing around 3% of its total assets to buy the cryptocurrency. The initiative was implemented by investment advisory firm Cartwright, which also launched a system that allows employers to pay employees’ salaries in bitcoins directly into crypto wallets.

Material by Corporate Adviser

What else is known? The news is notable because the pension fund directly invests in bitcoin itself, rather than derivatives based on it, such as exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares. The fund has already purchased 50 million British pounds or $65 million worth of BTC. The private key to the coin wallet is distributed among five independent institutions.

“We are proud to have led this ground-breaking move which we hope will be the start of a trend for institutional investors in the UK to catch up with their increasing number of peers and competitors around the world who are already taking advantage of bitcoin’s unique attributes,” Cartwright’s senior executive Sam Roberts said.

The company noted that bitcoin investments are aimed at portfolio diversification. In addition, the asset offers a unique asymmetric risk-return ratio, so that pension funds and other risk-averse institutional investors can quickly capitalize on potential significant growth while limiting damage from potential volatility.

In June, a Wisconsin pension fund was the first in the United States to invest in bitcoin. The investment was indirect: the fund purchased shares of the spot bitcoin fund IBIT from the world’s largest investment company BlackRock. The share of investments amounted to only 0,1% of total assets, but they surpassed the British fund in terms of amount: $163 million.

The pension fund of the state of Michigan began to invest in crypto funds. It purchased shares of Grayscale Ethereum Trust and Grayscale Mini Trust for $11 million.

UK court recognizes USDT as property following fraud trial

Earlier, a bill was introduced in Parliament to recognize cryptocurrencies as personal property

Read more

In September, the UK government introduced a bill in Parliament that would recognize cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) as personal property.

It also provides guidance for lawyers on how to handle ownership disputes such as divorce. The document will provide protection for cryptocurrency owners, both individuals and businesses, who have been affected by fraud.