South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS) has announced that it has invested in global cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and technology firm Microstrategy, which holds a large amount of Bitcoin.
However, he denied investing directly in cryptocurrencies. “Bitcoin and other virtual assets are not investments and are invested in shares because they are included in the benchmark index,” the National Pensions Service said.
According to data requested from the National Pension Service by Baek Jong-heon, a member of the National Assembly Committee on Health and Welfare, the National Pension Service gave this answer when asked about its indirect investments in cryptocurrencies.
When it comes to investing in overseas stocks, the National Pension Service operates in two ways: index management, which manually tracks the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index, and investment in individual companies through a custodian manager.
The Coinbase and Microstrategy shares held by the National Pension Fund were either purchased automatically in line with these indicator indices or purchased through an investment manager.
As of March 2024, the National Pension Fund holds 280,000 Coinbase shares (worth approximately $10.9 billion) and 200 MicroStrategy shares (worth approximately $400 million).
Coinbase is a global cryptocurrency exchange based in the United States, and MicroStrategy is a major company that holds 1.2 percent of the world's Bitcoin.
Some market observers have interpreted these investments by the National Pension Service as an indirect investment in cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin.
However, the National Pension Service has denied this claim and stated that it “did not purchase these companies to invest in cryptocurrencies”.
When asked about plans to limit investments in cryptocurrency-related companies, KPF explained that this is a matter for the fund’s management committee to decide, and if it wants to limit investments in a specific group of companies, the committee must approve it and change the benchmark index.
“The National Pension Service should carefully review its investment policy for cryptocurrencies in light of their volatility and comprehensively manage any risks that may arise,” Baek Jong-heon said.
*This is not investment advice.