South Korea Pension Fund plans to invest in Bitcoin through ETFs

South Korea’s public pension fund, Korean Teachers’ Credit Union (KTCU), one of the most prominent institutional investors of South Korea, is reportedly seeking to try its hands on Bitcoin (BTC) through a crypto Exchange-traded Fund (ETF). 

On Monday, the local financial news agency of the country, The Korea Economic Daily, reported that KTCU is planning to invest in a pure BTC ETF or BTC-linked ETF in early 2022.

The report says that the organization is also considering investing in BTC ETF products by Mirae Asset Global Investments, the well-known asset management company of South Korea. In April 2021, the company had rolled out two Bitcoin futures ETFs to track the value of BTC via its Canadian subsidiary Horizons ETFs.

As per the report, 

“As there have been some well-made cryptocurrency-linked ETF products out by asset managers like Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments, we seek to invest in the ETF products after consultation with domestic asset managers,” said An executive at KTCU.

KTCU is the second-biggest institutional investor of South Korea. It has a total of $40.2 billion in assets under management with an allocation of 40% of its investments in alternative assets, 10% in domestic stocks, and 9% in international stocks.

The South Korean company has not disclosed the size and other information of its potential BTC ETF investment.

The official has also mentioned the potential investment in a BTC ETF by Mirae Asset’s subsidiary, Global X ETFs. It had filed for a BTC ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in July.

Global pension funds are also on the same path as South Korea

Along with South Korea, there have been various global pension funds getting massively interested in cryptocurrencies and crypto-related companies. Recently, the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund has invested $25 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board in Canada has also announced on October 21 that it has participated in the $420 million funding round for the crypto exchange giant FTX. The path by South Korea, is in contrast with the one taken by North Korea, as reported by TheCoinRise.