UPDATED: March 19, 2024, 7:09AM EDT
Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) is seeking information regarding the option to potentially include bitcoin (among other illiquid assets) in its investment portfolio.
The fund announced on Tuesday that it officially requests the public to submit information on low-liquidity assets such as bitcoin, gold, and farmland. This is part of its five-year research to innovate investment strategies in response to economic and social changes and the rapid development of technology, the fund stated.
However, it is difficult to view the latest announcement as indicative of the pension fund’s inclination towards bitcoin, as it is in the stages of collecting data prior to a proper discussion.
As of Q3 2023, GPIF managed about 224.7 trillion yen (US$1.5 trillion). It is the world’s largest known pension fund, according to Bloomberg.
This comes as the price of bitcoin fell 5.43% in the past 24 hours to $64,005, retracing a portion of its record-breaking gains made last week. However it remains up more than 50% year-to-date.
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About Author
Danny Park is an East Asia reporter at The Block writing on topics including Web3 developments and crypto regulations in the region. He was formerly a reporter at Forkast.News, where he actively covered the downfall of Terra-Luna and FTX. Based in Seoul, Danny has previously produced written and video content for media companies in Korea, Hong Kong and China. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism and Business Marketing from the University of Hong Kong.