The post UK Pension Scheme Becomes First to Make Direct Bitcoin Purchase appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

TLDR First UK pension fund makes historic 3% Bitcoin allocation of their £50 million ($65 million) portfolio Direct Bitcoin investment chosen over ETFs or proxies, with private key split between 5 institutions Decision followed extensive trustee consultations covering ESG, investment case, and security Cartwright launching Bitcoin Employee Benefits scheme allowing direct BTC payments to staff wallets Investment represents larger allocation (3%) compared to other institutional pension investments like Wisconsin’s 0.1% In a historic first for the United Kingdom’s pension industry, an unnamed pension scheme has allocated 3% of its £50 million ($65 million) portfolio directly to Bitcoin. The move, guided by pension specialist Cartwright, marks the first time a UK pension fund has made a direct cryptocurrency investment rather than using traditional investment vehicles like ETFs or proxy investments. The investment, valued at approximately £1.5 million, came after what Cartwright described as a “rigorous training and due diligence process.” The decision-making process involved lengthy consultations with the scheme’s trustees, focusing on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns, investment potential, and security measures. Steve Robinson, head of investment implementation at Cartwright, explained that the Bitcoin allocation was chosen to “reduce reliance on employer contribution.” The pension scheme cited its “long investment time horizon” as a key factor in the decision-making process. The security arrangement for the Bitcoin investment involves a sophisticated approach to private key management. Rather than centralizing control, the private key has been split between five independent institutions, creating multiple layers of security for the pension fund’s digital assets. This 3% allocation stands out when compared to other institutional pension investments in the cryptocurrency space. For context, the State of Wisconsin pension fund, which made headlines as the first U.S. state pension plan to invest in Bitcoin through spot ETFs, allocated only 0.1% of its assets to the cryptocurrency.…

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Filed under: News - @ November 5, 2024 9:21 am