Wisconsin Boosts Bitcoin ETF Holdings, Going All-In on BlackRock

The State of Wisconsin’s Investment Board has upped its exposure to Bitcoin by buying more shares in a prominent crypto ETF. 

A regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the SWIB now owns over 6 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) fund, worth $335.9 million as of this writing.

Last year, the SWIB disclosed it had bought shares from both the BlackRock and Grayscale Bitcoin ETFs collectively worth $163 million at the time, but Friday’s filing shows that its crypto exposure now is exclusively with IBIT.

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The SWIB is responsible for the citizens’ pension funds and other trusts in the Midwestern state. It makes all kinds of investments, from tech stocks to gold. 

The SEC last year approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, allowing the products to trade on American stock exchanges after a decade of denials. Investors can now buy shares that track the price of Bitcoin and not have to worry about storing the asset themselves. 

Since their approval, investor capital has flooded the space and Bitcoin has broken new all-time price highs, most recently marking a peak just shy of $109,000 in January. 

Institutional investors are now able to access the crypto space via the regulated funds. 

Other American pension funds are also buying exposure to crypto. Last year, for example, the State of Michigan Retirement System disclosed that it had bought shares in both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. 

Edited by Andrew Hayward