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California’s public pension system, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), held forum talks on Wednesday, where candidates vying for seats on its Board were divided about exposing the fund to Bitcoin. The $506 billion fund, which serves more than 2 million retirement members and 1.5 million health program participants, holds shares of Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly listed Bitcoin holding company in the world, with 636,505 Bitcoins as of September 4.
CalPERS forum discussion members. Source: YouTube.
During opening statements, incumbent board member David Miller threw cheap shots at challenger Dominick Bei over his ties to a Bitcoin education and advocacy group.  “Cryptocurrency should not have a seat on our board and never should,” remarked Miller, referring to Bei’s nonprofit, Proof of Workforce, which educates people about Bitcoin. “CalPERS owns shares in the largest bitcoin holding company in the world, MicroStrategy, as a board member our job is not to pick investments, we hired a CIO to do that who is properly incentivized to find gains,” Bei responded. Miller then told attendees about the difference between indirect holdings and outright crypto purchases. “Investing in a business that’s working with Bitcoin transactions is a very different game than direct investment in buying Bitcoin,” he said. Candidates say ‘Bitcoin has no place’ in a pension fund Steve Mermell, another challenger, responded with a firm rejection of cryptocurrencies. When asked if Bitcoin had a place in CalPERS’ portfolio, Mermell exclaimed:  “Hell no! It all sounds so good until it’s not. It is opaque, no one understands it, highly speculative, and if you want to invest your money in it, have at it. It has no place, no place, in a pension system.” He also mentioned some of California’s darkest financial episodes due to “high–risk” investments, including the 1994…

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Filed under: News - @ September 4, 2025 10:30 am