Canada’s biggest pension fund, CPP Investment (CPPI) has pulled the plug on its research efforts on cryptocurrency and blockchain-related businesses as an investment option.
According to reports by Reuters citing familiar sources, the reason for this action is still unclear. Also, the pension fund said it’s yet to make any direct investment in crypto. CPPI began its research into cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related businesses in 2021 through its dedicated arm Alpha Generation Lab which studies emerging investment trends.
It has now redeployed the three-member team it inaugurated for the purpose of research into other areas. According to one of the members, the research efforts were still ongoing as late as July this year.
Before its decision to halt the research program, CPPI through its CEO John Graham said it doesn’t want to delve into crypto just for the rave of it and the fear of missing out. At the time, Graham said the pension fund which manages $388 billion for about 20 million Canadians was studying crypto to understand the underlying intrinsic value and build its portfolio accordingly
Canadian Pension Funds’ Investments in crypto turn zero
While Canadian pension funds are not precisely prohibited from investing in crypto, a number of pension funds have yet to be so lucky with their investments in crypto. A number of factors including the fallout of platforms like FTX and the resulting consequences have ensured that their investments yield no return.
For instance, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan joined the likes of Temasek Holdings and several other investors who wrote off their investment in bankrupt FTX after its sudden fall with many of these investors adding that their trust in Sam Bankman-Fried the former CEO of FTX appeared to have been misplaced.
Also, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) Canada’s second-largest pension fund has tagged its investment in crypto lending platform Celsius as a loss and subsequently wrote off its $200 million investment in the bankrupt platform.
Meanwhile, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) exited all of the investment in crypto investments in 2020
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