American State Wisconsin Reveals Investments in Spot BTC ETFs
A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 14 shows that the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) invested in spot BTC exchange-traded funds provided by BlackRock and Grayscale.
According to the entity in charge of the Wisconsin state trust funds, over 2.4 million shares were held in the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) as well as over 1 million shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) valued at about $100 million and $64 million, respectively.
As noted in the filing, the Wisconsin Retirement System may be exposed to cryptocurrency investments via BlackRock and Grayscale. SWIB’s report revealed the management of assets valued at over $156 billion as of the end of last year. About 48 percent of the core fund asset allocation went into public equity.
The portfolio also includes investments in shares of stock in Coinbase, MicroStrategy and Cleanspark. However, according to the SEC, it should not be assumed that the information provided by SWIB was “accurate and complete.”
“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,” said Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas via X.
More recently, it was reported that JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo disclosed investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs. Likewise, a report by Susquehanna International Group shows the purchase of shares spot cryptocurrency ETFs valued at over $1bn in Q1 2024, including shares of GBTC, IBIT, FBTC, BITO and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF.