South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) has bought $34 million worth of shares in MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm that has raised billions of dollars in Bitcoin.
BREAKING: 🇰🇷 South Korea’s pension fund announces $34 million purchase of MicroStrategy shares. pic.twitter.com/Sg5cRAkjzZ
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 16, 2024
According to Latest filing with the Securities and Exchange CommissionNPS bought 24,500 shares of MicroStrategy stock in the second quarter at an average price of $1,377. That’s roughly 245,000 shares after MicroStrategy’s 10-for-1 stock split this month.
As South Korea’s public pension fund, the National Pension Fund is the country’s largest institutional investor, with assets of more than $777 billion. MicroStrategy’s $34 million investment could be seen as an indirect bet on Bitcoin.
MicroStrategy holds the most bitcoins of any publicly traded company, with over 226,500 bitcoins worth $13.2 billion. The company has raised most of its bitcoins through debt, making the stock a lucrative bitcoin investment.
The National Pension Fund joins a growing list of pension and sovereign wealth funds that have gained exposure to bitcoin through MicroStrategy. The Norwegian Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank have also disclosed their holdings in MicroStrategy previously.
MicroStrategy’s stock price has nearly doubled this year as more institutional players bet on the company’s bitcoin strategy. Defiance ETFs even launched a leveraged exchange-traded fund that targets 175% of MicroStrategy’s daily moves.
The embrace of MicroStrategy shares by major global pension funds underscores Bitcoin’s emergence as the best treasury for public companies.