Wisconsin Investment Board Invests $163M in ETFs

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According to a SEC filing, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) held $163 million in spot Bitcoin ETF shares as of the end of March.

The portfolio’s assets include 2,450,400 shares of BlackRock’s IBIT valued at approximately $99.1 million, 1,013,000 shares of Grayscale’s GBTC worth about $63.7 million, and various securities from cryptocurrency firms such as Coinbase, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Block, Cipher Mining, CleanSpark, and MicroStrategy.

Founded in 1951, SWIB manages investments for public pension and other trust funds. At the close of 2023, SWIB had total assets under management amounting to $156 billion.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas commented on X that SWIB’s interest in the emerging asset class came sooner than anticipated. He views this as a positive development, noting that “institutions tend to move in herds.”

Additionally, in May, Robert Mitchnick, head of BlackRock’s digital assets department, predicted a new wave of inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs driven by institutional investors’ participation.