State of Wisconsin Invests $164 Million in Bitcoin Spot ETFs as 'Big Fishing Institutions' Back BTC

The state of Wisconsin invested $164 million in spot bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) in the first quarter as institutional interest in the cryptocurrency king grows.

The state investment board acquired 94,562 shares of the iShares bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) worth about $100 million and $64 million in shares of the Grayscale bitcoin Trust (GBTC), according to a presentation with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The investment board has more than $156 billion in assets under management owned by the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS), the State Investment Fund and other state trust funds.

The disclosure comes days after New Hampshire state representative Keith Ammon said the state should consider allocating some of its reserves to bitcoin ETFs.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet” data-width=”550″ data-dnt=”true” wp_automatic_readability=”8.3532934131737″>

Should the state of New Hampshire investigate allocating a small percentage of its reserves to a bitcoin ETF?

– Representative Keith Ammon (@RepKeithAmmon) twitter.com/RepKeithAmmon/status/1789734542401552781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>May 12, 2024

Ammon noted that if New Hampshire had invested 5% of its emergency fund in bitcoin in 2016, it would have already seen a 10x return.

Institutions flock to bitcoin ETFs

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said Wisconsin's investment in bitcoin ETFs shows growing interest from “large fishing institutions.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet” data-width=”550″ data-dnt=”true” wp_automatic_readability=”12.404558404558″>

Wow, he bought himself a state pension. twitter.com/search?q=%24IBIT&src=ctag&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>$ VA in the first trimester. You typically don't get these big fisheries on 13Fs for about a year (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 https://t.co/leKVe2CK1S

– Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) twitter.com/EricBalchunas/status/1790391049560498410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>May 14, 2024

First quarter disclosures by institutions show that several of them own bitcoin ETFs. The multinational bank BNB Paribas presented its 13F Report with the SEC on May 1, showing that he owns 1,030 shares of IBIT.

JPMorgan too revealed who owns more than $750,000 in bitcoin ETF shares. In its presentation, the bank revealed a diversified investment portfolio with investments in ETFs managed by BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, ProShares and Bitwise.

Also read:

Smog (SMOG) – Meme Coin with Rewards

• First Airdrop Season Available Now
• Earn XP to qualify for a share of $1 million
• Featured on Cointelegraph
• Staking Rewards: 42% APY
• 10% discount on free sale – smogtoken.com