Wisconsin Pension Fund Dumps $350M Bitcoin ETF Stake—Institutional Jitters or Just Paper Hands?
Another day, another pension fund playing hot potato with crypto exposure. The Wisconsin Investment Board just offloaded its entire $350 million position in a Bitcoin ETF—right as BTC flirts with new all-time highs. Smart risk management or classic institutional timing? You decide.
Behind the move: Bureaucrats doing bureaucrat things—locking in ’safe’ losses while retail hodlers keep stacking. The irony? This sell-off comes just weeks before BlackRock’s spot ETF gets its inevitable nod from the SEC. Pension funds: always late to the party, first to the exit.
One thing’s clear: Wall Street still hasn’t figured out whether Bitcoin is digital gold or a risk asset. Meanwhile, the rest of us will keep DCA’ing while they flip-flop.
Source: WSJ
Wisconsin Exits Bitcoin ETF Position in Major Shift After Landmark Investment in 2024
2025 has proven to be an increasingly volatile year for the cryptocurrency market. Among the most affected was Bitcoin. However, after a stark decline in Q1, things look to be back on track. The leading cryptocurrency returned to the $102,000 mark as JPMorgan has recently projected it will outperform gold in the second half of the year.
However, that didn’t stop some from selling off their holdings in the cryptocurrency. Among them is the Wisconsin State Investment Board, which sold off its entire $350 million stake in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF. Indeed, the US state had exited its position entirely, according to a recent SEC filing.
The turn took place less than a year after Wisconsin first invested in the asset. It was a landmark event that saw it approve the action that boosted investment from just 2.9 million shares to 6 million shares in the $11 trillion asset manager IBIT’s product in late 2024.
That is a thing of the past amid its decision to sell. However, it hasn’t turned its back completely on the asset class. The board purchased 26,571 shares of Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR). Worth $10.5 million, it shows that Wisconsin is still embracing indirect exposure to the lagging crypto.
