Key Points
- South Korea’s National Pension Fund bought MicroStrategy shares worth $33.7 million in Q2 2024.
- The fund also has Coinbase shares holdings worth $51 million at the end of June.
Institutional crypto investment and indirect crypto exposure are intensifying this year with the latest disclosure coming from South Korea’s National Pension Fund.
This is the third largest pension fund by assets in the world, and according to new reports, they bought MicroStrategy shares worth about $33.7 million in Q2 2024.
The pension fund submitted its holdings report to the US SEC this week, with August 13 as its filing date.
According to the official report, the fund bought 24,500 MicroStrategy shares in the second quarter of this year.
Indirect Bitcoin Exposure via MicroStrategy
The latest move made by South Korea’s National Pension Fund aims to expand its indirect exposure to Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy is the largest corporate Bitcoin holder with total holdings of 226,500 BTC worth approximately $13.2 billion, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.
MicroStrategy is an American company providing business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services. They began accumulating Bitcoin back in August 2020, when they announced the purchase of 21,454 BTC for about $250 million.
MicroStrategy’s initial investment marked an important milestone in the company’s treasury management strategy, citing Bitcoin’s potential as a hedge against inflation and a viable store of value.
Considering its substantial Bitcoin holdings, the company has often been used as a bridge to indirect Bitcoin exposure in the traditional market. It’s also worth noting that the US SEC approved the first leverage ETF targeting MicroStrategy this week, MSTX, launched by Defiance ETFs.
Investing in MicroStrategy is not the first and only move made by the National Pension Fund in South Korea that suggests interest in indirect Bitcoin exposure.
South Korea’s NPS’ Coinbase Shares Investment
The South Korea National Pension Fund also invested in Coinbase shares in Q3 2023.
In the third quarter of last year, the fund purchased 282,673 Coinbase shares worth about $19.9 million at the time.
According to the latest 13F filing with the SEC, the fund’s total holdings of Coinbase Global Inc. amounted to 229,807 shares worth approximately $51 million at the end of June.
13F filings are quarterly reports filed with the US SEC by institutional investment managers who own at least $100 million in equity assets under management.
